


Love me Less

by hoonbunn



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Ben is confused, Devoted Reylo, Doctor!BenSolo, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Eventual Smut, F/M, Finn and Poe are dating, Fluff, Mutual Pining, Rey can fix anything, Rey can’t stand Ben, Slow Burn, Student!Mechanic!Rey, confused over many things, more tags to come, tachos are a real thing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2020-02-10 18:08:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 22,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18665629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hoonbunn/pseuds/hoonbunn
Summary: Doctor Ben Solo has a reputation - he’s a phenomenal doctor but he’s got no self control when it comes to his temper. He’s sweet with the old people under his care but the medical staff under him has to console every nurse he makes cry almost daily. No one has been able to match his outbursts until one small Facilities worker matches his fiery. Between juggling two jobs and her final semester in college, Rey Johnson doesn’t have time for anyone's drama, including the minuscule senseless things Doctor Solo rages about. He can’t seem to wrap his head around her and she can’t stand to be around him; that is until her life is flipped upside down and she sees just how nice Solo can be.





	1. Tuesdays...

She jolts awake at the sound of her alarm sitting upright on her bed as her phone buzzes loudly on the floor next to her bed. Rey yawns as she rubs at her eyes and falls back against her pillows. Lazily, her eyes still closed, she reaches over the edge of her bed to locate her cell phone. She doesn’t recall her alarm ever being the tone it is or the volume it is set at, until she peeks at the time and nearly scrambles out of bed. It’s not the tone she’s used to because it’s an entirely different alarm; it’s her warning alarm.

Rey is going to be late for work.

She nearly trips over the little table next to her bed as she half crawls, half leaps to her dinky little bathroom across the hall. She turns on the shower and twists the nob as hot as it can go in hopes of getting a somewhat decent shower in before she has to sprint for the bus. She nearly hisses when she is assaulted by cold water instead and finds that she has missed her chances of a warm shower. Her building supervisor, Unkar Plutt, a disgusting blob of a man, is the worst. For the few months that Rey has lived in her small apartment, she has had little luck convincing the vile man into upgrading the hot water tanks for the small building of units; his excuse being it’s too expensive and that he would need to raise rent a couple hundred dollars per tenant. Rey seems to be the only person to complain about the lack of warm water going through the building.

Quickly rinsing off, Rey half slips and stumbles out of the cracked tub to towel off her hair and hop around throwing on her work uniform. Hiking up her day old work pants and throwing on a basic tank top, she digs in her closet for one of her less wrinkled uniform tops; she hadn’t found the time to do her laundry so she has to skip out on her preferred coveralls. Her uniform consists of your basic navy Cintas pants and short sleeve button down with the pockets on the breasts. Shoes are a toss up between her steel toed ones which are in desperate need of a replacement and her black slip resistant gym shoes; today she goes for her steel toed.

She’s out her door in a record time of fourteen minutes as she throws her backpack over her shoulders and runs down the stairs so she can sprint several blocks to the bus stop. If she’s lucky, she will make it with seconds to spare. It’s a cloudy crisp October morning and the run feels good as Rey takes measured breaths jogging down the sidewalk. It had rained the night before so she has to make careful work of dodging the puddles scattered across the sidewalk and at the curbs. She’s able to make it in time to leap on the bus and is lucky enough to get a seat next to the window for the thirty-three minute commute. She settles in her seat with her tattered backpack in her lap as she rests her chin on it and plugs her headphones into the salvaged mp3 player she was able to resurrect years ago. As the city passes by through the windows, she attempts to calm herself down from the adrenaline rush of waking up late.

Rey’s got a busy life. She works a full time job with the Facilities maintenance staff at a local hospital alongside her friends: Finn, Poe (Finn's boyfriend) and Rose. Finn and Rose mainly work the dispatching office while Poe is a shift supervisor. She has a secondary Part-Time job with Rose’s sister, Paige, at the small cafe a few blocks from the hospital and smack dab in the middle of her route to school. She’s also finishing out her final credits for her degree in Business Engineering and Automotive. If she stays on the right path, she will be graduating in the spring.

The bus she’s on comes to an abrupt halt as it nears three stops from her destination. Traffic looks backed up to the point that Rey would have better chances at not being late if she jogged the eight blocks to get to the hospital campus. So, that’s exactly what she does. Flying down the steps of the bus, she repositions her backpack and makes a mad dash down the sidewalk yet again. Just as she’s zeroing in on the second to last block, she feels a large drop of water smack her cheek. Glancing up, she notices the change in the clouds and predicts she has less than three minutes before she’s trapped in a downpour. A clap of thunder tells her she really only has a minute and a half; so she bolts.

In forty-five seconds, she’s across from the South Building’s entrance. Less than a half of a blocks distance and she can run in through the loading docks and escape the impending doom of rain. As she approaches the curb mid jog ready to bolt across the street, a flash of black catches her attention bringing her to a halt and seconds later she is soaked from the waist down. She stands at the curb in shock and watches what looks to be a newer model black Ford Mustang turn up the back drive. The owner of said vehicle rolls down the window, swipes their employee badge and pulls into the physician’s parking lot. If it weren’t for the fact that Rey was running horribly late and the respect for nice looking cars, she would hop the fence into said parking lot and kick in the rear bumper of the Mustang.

It’s when Rey makes it through the South Building’s dock and clocks in (with twelve seconds to spar) that she realizes it is Tuesday; meaning she has a full day of work and evening classes to attend. She and Finn would always joke around about how Tuesdays were always the worst day of the week. Tuesdays weren’t exactly Mondays or Wednesdays; they weren’t close to the weekend and it always seemed the worst jobs were lined up on Tuesdays. Administration was always far more aggravated on Tuesdays after having to clean up the sour attitudes left from Mondays.

She’s just thrown her backpack in her locker and situated her utility belt on her waist when Poe walks into the office, phone at his ear and clipboard in hand scribbling down what she assumes are notes from the person on the other line. He looks a little aggravated as he simply grunts and says “Yes, it will get done today.”.

When he hangs up, Rey is reaching for her wireless phone and walkie talkie.

“Rough night?”

She looks over her shoulder to see Poe leaning on the table with a smirk on his face.

Rey only shakes her head. “If by rough night you mean finishing the draft of my midterm paper, then yes, extra rough. Rough like taking it from behind with no lube.” Her response is laced heavily in sarcasm that he can only laugh. The thing about Poe being one of the shift supervisors she reports to is that he doesn’t seem to mind if Rey shows up late. She’s an above average performer. She always get her jobs done faster than most and usually, if not always, conscientiously goes above and beyond. She finds that lots of people who put in facilities requests specifically ask for her to complete their job.

She sighs as she gives him the truth. “I overslept…”

Poe pats her on the shoulder. “Aye, that’s alright. I understand.” He pause and looks at her appearance. “Did you purposely run through every puddle along the way though? Your pants are soaked…”

Rey can only groan as she remembers the black Mustang. “No, Poe, I actually dodged every puddle. Some asshat of a physician however got extra lucky enough to run his bloody car through a curb puddle and completely soak me in muddy water... “ By the time she gets the explanation out, she sounds defeated. She’s got a full day of work, no change of clothes and classes until at least nine that evening. She has the pleasure of wearing damp clothes all day.

Not if Poe can help it though. “Listen, Rey, I’ll go search through the extra uniforms and see if we have a pair of fresh pants for you. In the meantime, do you think you can take on a task for me?”

She’s quick to agree. “Sure. What’s the job?”

Poe grabs his clipboard off the table and looks at it. “So I know you’re usually stationed in the Bed Tower and Classic Building most of the time, but how well do you know your way around the Professional Building?”

“Professional Building?” Rey thinks for a moment. “That’s the doctor’s offices, right? Four functioning elevators with one service elevator located towards the south-west of the first floor corridor? Six floors of offices with an average of seven offices per floor? If I’m not mistaken, Cardiology is mainly on the fifth floor while there are three OB-GYN offices on the third floor. The fourth and sixth floor both have a Neuropsychology office at the far ends of their halls… I’m afraid I have no clue what you’re talking about.” She looks at Poe who clearly knows she’s fucking with him. When he doesn’t say anything, she gives him a cheeky smile. “What’s the job, Boss?”

Poe can only crack a smile as he looks back down at his notes. “Suite 605. Apparently one of the Doctors put in a work request to have a ‘flickering light bulb’ replaced in the office. The staff member I got off the phone with told me the Doctor was a bit peeved that his request hadn’t been completed yet...”

“So the bloody wanker is throwing a tantrum because a fluorescent light bulb decided it wanted to have a disco party in the office.” It’s not a question. Rey is stating the facts back to Poe in the most sarcastic way she can that has the two of them struggling to keep from cracking up at the immaturity of whatever doctor is in that suite.

“That’s exactly the problem Rey. It’s a lot of responsibility to put on one associate but its such an urgent matter! Do you think you could get the job done for me?” Poe struggles to get that out as he starts to cackle like an idiot.

She puts a hand to her forehead. “Gosh Poe… I dunno… It seems like so much. Don’t you think someone as skilled as Snap should take on that job?” Anyone who knows Snap knows he’s the laziest employee whose only redeeming quality is replacing the ‘Foam in Foam out’ sanitizing containers on the units; and that’s usually the job of the Environmental Services workers. He insists on taking the responsibility because he has the well being of the patients in mind and if the containers are empty, how else will the nurses sanitize their hands to prevent the spread of germs?

That has the two of them howling in laughter with tears streaming down their faces. Finally, Rey regains her ability to speak. “Sure thing Poe. I’ll get right on it. Any idea which kind of bulb I’ll need to replace? Basic fluorescent or LED?”

Poe just shrugs. “No idea. Probably a basic fluorescent; that building has yet to get it's upgrades. The job description wasn’t clear enough and the staff never reiterated which kind of light it was. Guess you’ll just have to go see, come back to the supply room for the bulb and then go back.”

Rey frowns, suddenly being serious. “That sounds a lot like working hard and not smart…”

Poe can only smirk now. “Yeah, well, make the immature Doctor wait a little longer. Push their buttons a bit if you want.”

“You’re a terrible supervisor, Poe.” Rey isn’t serious and he knows that.

He can only shrug as he heads for the door. “What can I say? Having staff call me about a light bulb first thing as I clock in because they’re impatient can lead to a little retaliation.” He looks over his shoulder then. “I had half the mind to ask Finn to delete the request in the system and act like we never got it.”

Rey can only smile because she would have done that. “Thanks Poe.” He knows what she means.

He waves and exits the office leaving Rey to herself as she accounts for her tools on her belt. With everything in hand, she heads to the supply room to retrieve her tool cart and folding ladder and sets off through the basement of the hospital.

The basement is a weird place to navigate. Some halls lead to receiving docks while some lead you to elevators. Occasionally, the random person will be down in the bowels of the classic hospital looking for the basement entrance of the garage. It’s silly how people tell her they have parked in the basement and they assume there is a basement entrance to the garage. She has to tell them that the only garage entrance there is happens to be on the Lobby or Ground levels of the Professional Building or the new addition of the Bed Tower.

As she passes the threshold of the Classic building into the Professional Building, she can only sit and wonder what adventures await her in 605. If the Doctor is nice about the delay in bulb replacement, she will work quickly and be on her way. If not, well, today will be a shitty Tuesday for them.

Up the elevator she goes and as she’s stepping off, a very pregnant woman is trying to get on while tugging what looks like twin brother and sister along with her. Rey kindly holds the elevator as the woman waddles on; she pauses to ask if the basement of the garage is connected to said elevator. Rey has half the heart to lean back in the elevator and hit the button for ‘G’ and educates the woman about the tunnel to the garage on the Ground level. With a wave goodbye, Rey turn her attention back to her task and rolls her cart just outside suite 605.

She grabs her clipboard with the job report forms from her cart and her favorite pen (she only says it’s her favorite because it writes good and not at all for the fact that it has a green classic 1957 Chevy pick up truck on it). She scribbles down the job title and location and then heads inside. Usually when she gets a job in a suite, there are people in the waiting room; must be a slow day if they only person she sees is the small woman behind the receptionist desk. Rey walks over to the window.

“Hello.”

The poor woman nearly jumps ten feet in the air; clearly Rey had startled her. “O-Oh! Hello.”

Rey just kindly smiles. “I’m from facilities. My name is Rey. I hear there happens to be a seizing light bulb somewhere here in your office?” She glances around the waiting room to see nothing out of order and looks back at the girl. “Is it in back in one of the exam rooms?”

The girl looks so relieved that Rey is there. “Oh, Yes! Yes! It’s actually back in D-Doctor S-s-solo’s personal office.” She seems to falter when mentioning his name. Odd. She practically leaps from her chair to open the door for Rey. “Let me show you where it’s at.”

So, Rey follows the girl to a door not far from her desk and the waiting area. The receptionist (who has a name badge labeled Tiffany) motions to the door but doesn’t bother to go near it. Rey only shrugs as she thanks Tiffany and reaches for the door knob. She stops suddenly when a loud voice practically hollers from the other side of the back room. Tiffany goes stiff. Rey notices.

“Tiffany, where are those Vascular results for my eleven O’Clock? I said I wanted them before eight-thirty so I could get the chance to look at them before the patient arrived!! It’s almost nine for fucks sake.”

Rey stands there as Tiffany all but scrambles to the desk to shuffle through the papers by the printer. She seems to have paled slightly. The voice yells out again.

“I need an answer Tiffany! Where are those Vascular charts?!”

Tiffany looks like she’s about to cry. “D-Doctor Solo, I don’t think Vascular h-has faxed them ove-”

“Well fucking call Vascular and tell them to fax them!”

As Rey is about to ask Tiffany where this supposed Doctor Solo is (so she can give him a piece of her mind), She is interrupted by his yelling again as a nurse with puffy red eyes and snot running out of her nose (She clearly had been crying) comes from around the corner. “I told you once already where to put those fucking supplies Lucy. How many times-”

From around the same corner, a large man with his back turned to Rey is standing over the frightened nurse. His broad shoulders and height almost hide the nurse as he belittles her in front of anyone and everyone in the office. Although it’s just a few nurses that Rey can notice and no patients, it just isn’t right. He has no right as their superior to speak to them that way. Not to Tiffany and not to Lucy who is now apologizing profusely to this Doctor Solo. Good thing for her that he has yet to notice her standing outside his office.

Solo turns to round on Tiffany again. “Have you called Vascular yet?!”

And Rey all but snaps.

His back is to her as she all but chucks her pen square at his head. It is thrown with such a force, it smacks him so hard that it bounces and lands on the floor behind him. His whole body goes stiff as if to register what the hell just happened. Tiffany’s eyes have gone wide as she stops dialing Vascular and Lucy is looking directly at Rey, terrified.

Solo slowly turns to acknowledge Rey now. She stands just outside his office door (she hasn’t even looked at the lightbulb yet), clipboard in one hand and a fist resting on her hip. She has an eyebrow raised almost as if to challenge him to do something.

His eyes are narrowed as he comes to his full height. He must think it’s intimidating but Rey is unfazed having grown up around people much worse than this pretentious doctor. He speaks, voice low. “Did you just… Throw something at me?”

“It slipped.” She deadpans.

He seems to be clenching his jaw. Clearly he wasn’t counting on Rey talking back to him; he has no idea what he’s dealing with. “I’ll ask again. Maybe my question wasn’t clear.” He pauses. “Did you just throw a fucking pen at me?”

She’s calm. “It _slipped_.”

He hates that answer because now he’s clenching his fists at his sides.

She has decided she’s going to be an asshole today because fuck Tuesdays. “Would you have preferred the clipboard?” She holds it up.

He looks like he’s turning red. “ _Excuse me?_ ”

She breaks eye contact with him now and moves the clipboard from one hand to the other as she shifts from foot to foot swaying her hips; she’s playing with him now. “I think I should have thrown this instead. Maybe then it would have jostled that section of your brain that helps you think more rationally and less like an utter prick towards your associates. Hmm? Don’t you think?” She pauses and smirks. “Although…” She sees him gulp and she turns to his name plate on the wall by his office.

She’s probably going to get a corrective action for this one. “ _Doctor Benjamin Solo…_ ” She looks at him “Family Medicine.” Another pause; Tiffany and Lucy are watching Doctor Solo for his reactions. “Seems like you know very little when it comes to Neurobehavioral Health. Y’know-” She points to her head and taps it. “Explains quite clearly why you’re acting less than professional here in… the Professional Building… around staff and patients… Might I suggest you make a visit to the suite down the hall? Or how about the one on the fourth floor? If you’d like to check yourself in to be fully rehabilitated, we can get you a wheelchair ride to the classic building, fifth floor.”

He hasn’t said a single thing to her. He’s just standing there blinking as she belittles him. His eye occasionally twitches.

She straightens and crosses her arms over her chest. “Then again, Classic Five can’t teach you manners; they can only tell you why you’re one huge wanker.”

She barely hears him because his voice has dropped even lower. “Who the _hell are you?_ ”

Now, now she will kill him with kindness. “O-Oh!” She stammers for effect. “I’m Facilities!”

He takes a step towards her but stops short when they hear a crunch. Under his flawless shoe (and large foot) is Rey’s favorite pen. He all but lifts his foot and toes it over to the side with a scowl on his face. Rey just follows the motion with her eyes. _Goodbye pen…_

“Well, Facilities, Do you have a name?” He’s kept the scowl on his face.

Rey goes to pat her chest where her name tag should be. “Oh! Silly me!” She digs into her pocket and extracts her badge and clips it to the collar of her uniform. “ _There_.” She doesn’t even say what her name is; let him read it for himself.

“Rey.” That’s all he says as his eyes drift to her badge and then back to her face.

She’s all too cheery now. “Yep! That’s me!”

“To what do we owe the pleasure of you being here, Rey?” He’s back to standing tall.

She cocks her head to the side and taps on her chin. “Well you see-” She turns away from him to hide the smirk forming on her lips. “We got a request about a broken light bulb in the office here. The request came in so early and then we heard there was apparently a very inpatient employee who just needed the bulb fixed. Something about it flickering and being annoying. I was told it was in this office!” That’s when she reaches for the handle and yanks open the door.

Clear as day, the fluorescent bulb in the ceiling light is flickering uncontrollably.

Solo seems to be holding back when he replies. “Yes. It needs to be fixed as soon as possible.”

Rey just tilts her head and her voice rises an octave. “Oooo… Sorry… This could take a _while_.”

The man behind her nearly sputters. “What do you mean by ‘a while’?!” He’s raising his voice again and Rey doesn’t like that. She spins to face him now; serious expression on her face.

“Couple hours. Maybe more. Honestly-” She looks up again and then back at Doctor Solo. “I didn’t bring the right bulb with me. I need to go back to the supply room for it. I’m not even sure if we have anymore of that kind left; we’ve replaced so many this past week already that I believe our stock is very low, if not already all gone.” She swears she sees a vein pop in his neck.

“Then go and get it!” He nearly spits out but says it with a clenched jaw.

She’s about to reply when her walkie-talkie on her hip interrupts. “ _FN-2187 to RJ-5327_.” Doctor Solo glares at the thing like it just insulted him. Rey unclips it from her belt and without breaking eye contact with Solo she holds down the transmitter. “This is RJ-5327, Go ahead.”

“ _RJ! Can I have you give me a two one at Base?”_

Oh Finn...He’s just made this so much better. “Ten-Four.” Rey clips her walkie back to her hip and then unclips her wireless phone, dials and holds it to her ear; all while never breaking eye contact with a now squinting Doctor Solo.

“Hey, Rey! Poe told me about that seizure bulb in 605!” Rey can hear Rose in the background exploding with laughter.

“It sure is something, FN.” She breaks eye contact by going to examine her nails and shifting her weight on her feet. “Need you to see if we have any more four foot T12s.”

“Sure I can look but that’s not why I needed you to two one me. Is that job a top priority right now?”

She picks at a hangnail. “What did PD-7633 say?”

“If you’re being a saint about the job, say ‘937’ but if the job can … wait… ‘366’...”

“It’s a 3-6-6, FN.” She looks up at a very confused Solo. Which is exactly what he should be because her friends and she created different codes for situations such as this one.

“Let’s put 605 on the back burner for a while then. I have a malfunctioning elevator over on 3 East. Think you could look into it?”

Her smile spreads like the cheshire cat’s grin. “That’s a Ten-Four, FN. I’ll update you when it’s fully functional again.” With that she hangs up and Solo looks like he’s about to burst.

“Well?”

Rey glances back at the light and then back at Solo. “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

“Excuse you?!” Doctor Benjamin Solo looks like he’s about to pop a blood vessel. “A few hours?!” His voice has risen again and once more Rey isn’t phased as she just blinks at him.

“What the actual fuck can be more importa-”

“Elevator on 3 East is malfunctioning.That job is of a _higher_ _priority_ over your bloody lightbulb! How would you feel if someone with a serious health condition got trapped in it? Also, I’m pretty sure 3 East is attached to the Maternity ward so if you’d rather have a pregnant woman in labor get stuck, then by all means, explain to me why your silly light bulb is more important!” Now she is the one scowling at him. She takes a few step towards him and he visibly stiffens. She stops short of him by three feet as she bends down to pick up her pen. It’s cracked at the end but some tape and it should still work; the design is a little scratched but the green truck is still in tact. She can only frown slightly as she puts the pen in her pocket. When she looks up at Doctor Solo again, he can’t meet her eyes. He looks like a kicked puppy.

She heads for the door but stops and smiles at Tiffany. “I’ll probably be back later. Don’t forget to call Vascular or poor Solo there may actually suffer from an aneurysm.” Tiffany can’t help but crack half a smile as she nods and goes for the phone once more.

She gets out into the hall and finally lets out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. She sighs.

Fuck Tuesdays.


	2. Her

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so... amazed at the support I've gotten from the first chapter of this Fic. Really, you have no idea how happy it makes me that many of you have enjoyed chapter one that I've decided to post Chapter two already. (depending on my schedule though, I will probably be going to weekly updates still.
> 
> The real question though: Will Dr. Solo actually suffer an aneurysm? :3c

It wasn’t even ten in the morning and Ben Solo was on the verge of putting his fist through his office wall. This Tuesday was already off to a great start. Although Ben had been working on rekindling his relationship with his family; after dropping and shattering the ceramic coffee mug (he’d received as a gift from his mother) full of hot coffee on his porch, he instinctively knew he should have probably called into the office and have them cancel all of his appointments for the day so he could crawl back into bed and restart the morning. Sadly, he was a responsible adult. He had picked up the largest pieces of the mug and discarded them, completely foregoing any coffee. He later would come to regret that.  
  
As he was in route towards the physicians parking lot on the back side of the South building, he narrowly avoided being t-boned by some teen rushing to school (obviously late considering the local high school had a morning bell at 7:45) in their rusted Toyota Camry. He also avoided striking a female pedestrian (likely running to said high school) but to the sad luck of that individual, the tires of his Mustang whipped through a puddle and probably (highly likely) drenched them in rain water. _Whoops_.  
  
Ben arrived first to the office and as he entered his private office, flicking on the light switch, he almost threw his briefcase at the light fixture on the ceiling. Before leaving the evening before, he had put through a facilities request to get the damned light fixed. It was flickering so much that it was due to fizzle out any moment and he didn’t want to be stuck in the dark while he attempted to get through his patient charts. Why they couldn’t attend to it on the graveyard shift was beyond him and he had half the mind to march down to the basement in the East Pavilion and give the supervisors a piece of his mind. Though, considering shift change was at about seven-thirty, he likely missed the night time crew.   
  
When Tiffany had gotten in, he had demanded that she call down to the maintenance team and have them put a rush on getting the bulbs replaced. His day refused to get any better. One of the nurses had rearranged the supplies in his exam room and he spent a good twenty minutes putting things back where he had them and then proceeded to bitch at the nurse, Lucy, for her incompetence. She ended up crying and he couldn’t find it in himself to care.  
  
He was very surprised that his fist hadn’t made contact with the wall by the time, 8:54, rolled around. He had yet to have the requested Vascular charts in hand and Tiffany hadn’t thought to call the Vascular Lab to get them faxed over ASAP. By 8:56, he was ready to ram his head through the wall; that being thanks to one person in particular. He still couldn’t shake the image from his head.  
  
Standing before him, in front of his office door, had been a petite woman. She stood with an air of confidence not many (women certainly never) managed to maintain while in his presence as her fist rested upon her hip and a clipboard in her other hand. She sported a messy bun atop her head and the expression across her freckled sun kissed face looked like she was challenging him to yell at her. Her uniform looked like it had seen better days however; she looked damp from the waist down. _So it wasn’t a kid he managed to splash._ The utility belt on her hips hung low as his eyes lingered a little longer on the subtle curve. When he had asked if she had thrown a _fucking pen_ at the back of his head, he nearly punched the wall then.  
  
She had the nerve to tell him ‘ _It slipped._ ’. Like fucking hell it slipped! She clearly wasn’t through with her smartass remarks as she asked him if he would have preferred the stupid clipboard instead. Then, she had to drag him through the imaginary mud.   
  
“ _Doctor_ _Benjamin_ _Solo_ …” God. Her fucking accent had smacked him like a fucking semi-truck. _Way to let your dick get the best of you, Solo_. The way she said his name had him ready to kneel before her and dutifully listen to the next sentence fall from her lips; even if it were to belittle him. Belittle him being the understatement of the century. Ever heard of the phrase, ‘Treat others the same way you wish to be treated’?; no one had ever dared speak to him like the way she had. Insult after insult she bashed on his intelligence and behavior. She sarcastically suggested that he admit himself to the psyche ward over on five classic but then proceeded to tell him (in so few words) that he was a ‘huge wanker.‘   
  
He needed to know her name. Rey, or as her name badge read: _Rey_ _J_.   
  
She was a force to be reckoned with and she didn’t stop for a second to be serious with him. He inquired about the bulbs in his office and she proceeded to have the fucking nerve to tell him it would take possibly a few hours to complete the job. Rey had even gone as far as to tell him that they may not have any of the bulbs in their supply inventory. He was about to scream.   
  
He was dying for a cup of coffee at that point. He could feel the headache creeping up the back of his neck. Just as he was about to tell her how stupid she was being, they were interrupted by the walkie talkie on her hip. She never broke eye contact as she reached for the device, snarky smile on her face and said something to the person on the other side; whoever in the hell was FN-2187 was going to get pushed down the stairs for interrupting the conversation.  
  
When the person on the other side of the walkie told her to ‘two one the base’, Ben can’t help but get a bad feeling about all of this. His stomach dropped when she started to speak in code on the phone. _PD-7633? 3-6-6-? What the actual fuck_? The only promising thing he heard was Rey inquiring about the light bulbs.   
  
When Rey hung up, he hoped to hear good news. Instead she said she will have to come back later because something of higher priority had come up in her job queue. Ben couldn’t get his sentence out fast enough before she’s raising her voice at him to tell him it’s an elevator. She rubbed in the guilt by practically saying, “ _How would you feel if someone with a serious health condition got trapped in it?_ ” God… he felt like such a dick.   
  
As if to make his stomach drop even lower, He is reminded of the pen ( _her_ _pen_ ) that he had accidentally stepped on. When he had gone to step closer to her, he had ended up catching the end of her pen under his foot. Hoping she hadn’t seen it, he moved to toe it away but to his unfortunately shitty luck, he watched as her eyes followed the path… He felt so bad about it all of a sudden. _It was just a stupid pen!_  
  
She had approached him and he felt himself tense up, half frightened over what she would, could, do to him. She had bent over to pick up her pen from the floor and held it momentarily. She frowned and pocketed it before turning to leave. Ben couldn’t look at her because he felt so guilty all of a sudden.   
  
And then, then, she had the gaul to turn to Tiffany and sweetly remind her about the Vascular charts he had been yelling about earlier. “ _-Poor Solo there may actually suffer from an aneurysm._ ” For fucks sake, he was border line about to have a _fucking stroke_.   
  
Now, forty-five minutes after his run in with the little minx from facilities, Ben finds himself sitting in his office. The light above him is still flickering uncontrollably. He can only sigh as he gets up from his desk, gives Tiffany the Vascular charts he’s finished reading and exits the suite all together. He’s in need of a damned coffee before his eleven o’clock patient arrives. The elevator ride down to the lobby level involves an old couple (the husband in a wheelchair) and a mother (with her toddler and crying baby in the stroller). He’s at least kind enough to hold the doors for the old couple to get out.   
  
The Professional building is connected to the Bed Tower via long hallway; The Bed Tower is also known as the Main Hospital and the Main hospital has the cafe up on the tenth floor. While walking down the hallway to the ‘A’ elevator bank, he sees _her_.  
  
Rey. She’s at the end of the hallway where it splits. If you go right, you find the bathrooms and the Public Safety office; go left and you get your elevators and Main lobby information desk. His steps falter as he gets closer. She doesn’t notice him as her attention is to helping a small woman with a walker into a wheelchair. He watches as the lady hands Rey a yellow ticket and Rey reaches for her walkie talkie. He’s seen this action done before but by a different department all together. So, why is Rey even bothering?   
  
She fiddles with it before speaking into it. “Facilities, RJ-5327 to Hospital Valet.” She pauses.   
  
“ _Go Ahead for Valet_.” Rey smiles at the woman before she continues  
  
“Valet, can you pull yellow ticket number 739 to the discharge location.” Rey starts to fold the woman’s walker up as Valet responds.   
  
“ _Yellow 739 to discharge. Ten-four. Eta will be about seven minutes._ ”   
  
Ben watches as Rey reclips her walkie to her hip and hoists the walker onto her shoulder. She bends to the woman’s level to tell her something, unlocks the wheels to the chair and then takes off towards what Ben assumes will be the discharge lobby. He realizes he’s stopped walking all together and is quick to make it to the the elevators before he risks actually running into Rey. He notices that Rey makes him nervous; which is odd. Fifteen minutes of confrontation and the woman seems to have enchanted him.   
  
He can already conclude that Rey has a good heart. She had been so cold towards him and while he deserved it, he hated how quick she was to jump at his throat. She’d gone from pure devil to sweet angel when she addressed Tiffany directly and he fucking hated it.  
  
As the elevators deposit Ben on the tenth floor, he saunters casually through the entrance and over to the coffee queue. He’s not one to pay attention to those around him but the two male nurses gossiping in front of him have managed to grab half of his attention.   
  
The shorter of the two is speaking. “There’s no way she has a boyfriend. A girl like her would likely scare away any able man. I mean, did you fucking see her biceps?”   
  
“Don’t be stupid. Did you see the way she got that elevator fixed again? Transportation was bringing a patient to the unit and by the time we got them all settled in their room, she was packing up her tools! That had to be no more than twenty minutes, tops!” Said the taller of the two.   
  
_Wait… were they talking about Rey?_  
  
The taller spoke again. “I also heard that the secretary from station B specifically requested her. Said something about that specific worker being too damned good at her job.”  
  
The shorter mumbled. “Christ, why is she even working here? She could make more money in a more specific field if she’s that good.”  
  
“She’s a student I think? I’ve seen her a few times up here, nose in a text book. Remember those days?” Taller one was speaking again.   
  
Before their conversation could continue, it was their turn to order coffee. Ben inwardly sighed; It seemed like Rey was popular all over the place. When it was his turn, he ordered himself a large black coffee with a splash of creamer and hazelnut syrup. If what the nurses had been saying was true, then Rey was finished with the higher priority job and she should be due back at his suite sometime soon.   
  
As he descends back to the lobby level, his stomach flops uncomfortably. He frowns and looks at the coffee in his hands; was it upsetting his stomach? He walks down the hallway towards the Professional Building elevators and finds himself keeping his eyes peeled for a petite brunette and navy uniform. As he waits in the lobby for an elevator back up to the sixth floor, Ben finds himself becoming more fidgety. What if she is already up there?  
  
 _Why do you even care?_  
  
When he gets back to 605, he finds himself a little disappointed - _Why the fuck was he disappointed_? - to find Rey isn’t there to complete her job. He’s still got time before his patient shows up, so he decides to head into his office again to work on the small stack of paperwork at his desk.   
  
His mind keeps wandering back to their encounter. He keeps thinking about what those nurses were saying. His stomach keeps flopping and he feels like he’s going to need a serious bathroom break if he can’t calm his nerves. Mid scribble across a patient chart and he’s imagining her sweet voice saying his name. He eventually settles with resting his head in his hands and the base of his palms applying pressure to his eyes; he groans.  
  
Fuck. _Fuck_.   
  
\-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- ---  
  
It’s just past one in the afternoon when Rey makes her way back to the Professional Building. After getting the elevator job complete and reporting back to base, Poe exclusively offered Rey the opportunity of either finishing the 605 job or the pick of any job request in the queue. She had been in no particular rush to get back to Dickhead Solo, so she stacked up on enough jobs to keep her busy until lunch.   
  
She’s minutes away from her lunch break as she steps off the elevator. She’s got no cart with her this time; her full intentions are to fuck with Ben Solo some more. Clipboard, tape measure and her now repaired pen in hand, Rey enters the suite to see that the waiting room is still very empty and Tiffany is still behind the receptionist desk.   
  
Rey waves as Tiffany smiles at her. “Hello, Rey!” She seems to be in better spirits now compared to how frightened she had been this morning.   
  
“Good afternoon, Tiffany. I’m here to take a quick measurement of the fixture in Solo’s dungeon if that’s alright. I’m not exactly sure which bulb size I’ll need to bring.” Rey swears she sees the woman struggle to keep the smile off her face at the mention of ‘Solo’s dungeon’.   
  
“Sure. You remember where it’s at?”  
  
God how can Rey forget?   
  
She nods as she lets herself through the door by Tiffany’s desk. “I’m pretty good directionally. Also, with basic reading skills-” Rey stops in front of Ben’s door and points at his name tag. “Anyone can find this idiot’s lair.” Tiffany is once again failing to hide her smile at the joke.  
  
Her eyebrows scrunch a little as she cocks her head to the side a bit. “I should warn you though, Rey. I’m afraid… Doctor Solo is likely in his office right now.”  
  
 _Excellent_.   
  
Rey shrugs. “That’s cool. I’m just here to get the fixture measurements and the number of bulbs.  I’m afraid I’ll have to come back after my lunch to complete the job.” Tiffany nods and she turns her attention back to her computer.  
  
Rey faces the wooden door and before she goes to twist the door knob, she realizes (almost as if with good luck) she doesn’t have her ladder. How can she possibly take the measurements? It’s all too perfect for her; all the suites are pretty basic and the entire building shares lots of default designs - lights included. Solo will have no knowledge of that, so she can make this encounter as painful as possible.   
  
Rey pushes open the door with such a force, she swears she sees Solo leap out of his seat almost like Tiffany had this morning. She doesn’t address him as she looks up at the flickering light and starts to blindly scribble on her scrap paper.   
  
Ben’s deep voice doesn’t sound pleasant at all. “So nice of you to come back.”  
  
“Not by choice, honestly.” Rey doesn’t look at him.   
  
There is silence for a few moments before Ben speaks again, shifting to look around her almost as if he’s looking for something. “Where is your cart?” Rey sets down her clipboard on his desk as she reaches for the tape measure on her hips; he immediately looks like he wants to push the clipboard over and off into the wastebasket.   
  
“I came to check and see what size bulb I needed. I was pretty sure it was a T12 but I can’t go assuming those things; we know what assuming does. I’ll have to let Base know which materials I need.” She fights to hold a smirk as he raises an eyebrow, confused clearly. “Meaning-”  
  
“Meaning what?”   
  
“Meaning you’ll be waiting a few more hours. By law, I have to take my break and by human standards, I have to eat something eventually.”   
  
He all but mumbles under his breath. “Oh, for fucks sake…”  
  
She decides to push his buttons. “Of course, however, I could completely skip out on food.” She pauses and looks at him; He’s looking at her strangely. “Would that be of convenience for you, Doctor Solo? I’ll skip my lunch so I can get this very urgent task completed specially for you.” She smiles at him softly before she mutters under her own breath. “Deprive a poor girl the only meal she’ll probably have for the day…”   
  
Rey normally doesn’t enjoy laying the guilt trip on someone, but Solo deserves it after his actions that morning. It’s clearly worked because he ends up turning away from her all together, eyes cast down to the carpet.  
  
“Listen, Rey, about-”  
  
She interrupts him. “Oh, Crap!”  
  
Ben’s attention snaps to her but she’s not paying attention to him as she frowns at the light. “I forgot my ladder.” A pause. “Now, how else am I going to-”  
  
“Rey.”  
  
“I should just go back and grab it from-”  
  
“ _Rey_.”  
  
Rey looks at Ben as he pulls himself out of his office chair and steps around the desk. Her eyes follow him as he comes to a halt in front of her, his arms crossed over his chest. Jesus, He’s fucking huge. Rey’s eyes continue to skim over his white jacket covered frame as he looks at her. He’s built like a tree and she wonders when he ever has the time to work out (he just has to workout because you’re not just given the fine toned body he possess). She bites her lower lip as she meets his eyes again. He’s got that strange look in them again.  
  
“Go eat.”  
  
“But the light?” She points at it for good measure. His eyes never leave hers.  
  
“Go eat, please.”  
  
Rey has to force herself not to visibly recoil. Was he being nice to her? What kind of game was this?  
  
“I said the food could wait. I can just go and get my-”  
  
He all but scowls. “If I have to, I’ll drag your ass to the cafeteria myself.”  
  
And... so much for actually being nice. “You as well as I know that you can’t-”  
  
Ben leans back to grab Rey’s clipboard and shove it into her hands. She looks from him to it as he’s quick to grab her by the shoulders, spin her around and shove her towards his office door. “Go eat, Rey.”  
  
She was absolutely imagining his kindness and she turns to yell at him. “You have no right to-” She can’t even argue properly with Ben advancing on her; she’s basically forced to walk backwards as he stalks towards her. “Let me just-” Before she knows it, she’s outside his door and he slams it in her face. Rey’s also able to hear the lock click into place.   
  
“ _Go eat!_ ” Is all she hears from the other side of the wood. She groans out of frustration, kicks the door with her worn work boots and marches through the office towards the exit. Tiffany seems to have stepped away, so Rey exits and heads for the elevators.   
  
Out of sight and descending towards the basement so she can go return her clipboard, Rey groans again and hits the back of her head on the wall of the elevator. Why did Ben Solo have to be such an arse? She plans to make it a mission to stop in the supply room before lunch so she can load up her work cart. The faster those lights are fixed, the sooner she most likely won't have to see Ben for a while.   
  
When she stops in at the Base, she is greeted by Finn and Rose who are both chatting with Poe. Finn looks at her with the cheekiest shit eating grin on his face.   
  
"Hey Rey. How's everything going with Doctor - Stick up his Ass? You know, we should call him Doctor-!" Finn pauses when he fails to come up with a good code word for Doctor Solo. "Ah, I got nothing."  
  
Rey sets her clipboard down on the desk and shrugs. "I feel like a stick is an understatement, Finn. Try the whole of Russia is shoved up there."  
  
Rose gets up and walks over to give Rey a hug. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that, sweetie. I still don't understand how he has patients who return for his care."  
  
Poe plops down in Rose's chair next to Finn and shrugs. "He's a good doctor." Poe is quick to sit up straight and covers his mouth in jest. "I almost threw up complimenting that man." The group as a whole laughs. "But from what I've heard... His staff is constantly on rotate. Some nurses don't even make it a week before they decide to call it quits. I think this year alone he's gone through enough people to staff an entirely new mother and baby unit."  
  
Rose frowns. "I feel like that's pushing it, Poe."  
  
"No. I fully believe Poe. I wasn't in the office for more than five minutes and Solo was already yelling at his staff. You should have seen it. The girl at the desk paled and the only nurse in the suite was in tears. The arse even-" She pulls out her pen and shows off the surgical tape on the one end. "-stepped on my pen. Though... I may have _accidentally_ let it fly across the room and hit him square in the back of the head with it."   
  
Poe almost falls out of the chair as he and Finn burst into a fit of laughter again; Rose can't hold a straight face. "Oh, god, Rey you didn't..."  
  
"Oh, I did."  
  
Poe struggles to breathe. "You're also extending what is easily a fifteen, maybe thirty, minute job to a couple hours? Rey, you're terrible. Remind me to never cross you if I'm in need of something fixed quickly."  
  
Finn snorts and lightly smacks Poe on the shoulder. "You're the dummy who suggested it, though."  
  
"Oh damn straight I did! We all know how I am about hospital staff rushing my team members to get things done at their convenience."  
  
Rey can only smile. "Well boss, I'll be taking my lunch now, if you don't mind?"   
  
Poe leans back in Rose's chair and props his feet up on the desk. "Sure thing!" He looks at Rose. "Feel free to take yours too. I'll cover with Finn until you come back."   
  
Rose rolls her eyes. "You're just looking for any excuse to hang out with your boyfriend."  
  
"Of course I am. We have things to discuss. Y'know, big vacation coming up." Poe snorts and winks.   
  
Rey pauses as she mounts her walkie talkie back on the charging stand. She'd completely forgotten that things were going to suck the next two weeks. Poe and Finn are going on some big vacation together while at the same time Rose and her sister, Paige, are heading home to visit their parents. The next two weeks would leave Rey to herself as she crammed for midterms and picking up extra shifts between both jobs. As far as she knows, She's got a few doubles, a third shift here and there plus a few acting supervisor shifts in place of Poe.   
  
Rose loops her arm with Rey's. "Let's go get some food! I'm starving."  
  
"Sure. Yeah, let me just - How about I meet you up in the cafe? I want to run over to the supply room and get my cart set for later first."   
  
Finn stops typing and looks up from the computer in front of him. "You mean to say you're not going to drag the job out till the end of your shift?"  
  
Rey makes a face. "Nah. As fun as it is to mess with him, I'd rather not leave it till the end. It's Tuesday, Finn. _Tuesday_." She says it like that's enough explanation for him. "I was already late today and I'd rather not deal with that later. I can't be late for class."  
  
Rose nods in understanding. "Sure thing. Meet you in the usual spot?"  
  
"Yeah. The usual." Rey heads for the supply room doors. "Let me know if there's anything good on the menu today."  
  
Rose snorts "Probably the usual. Pizza. Chicken nuggets, Fries...then again, _It is Tuesday_. Good chance there might be Tachos." Tachos being Tater-tots topped with Taco meat and Taco related toppings. Tachos being one of Rey's favorite foods. "I'll text you!"  
  
"Oh, Rey!" Poe sits up straight in his chair. "I left you a clean pair of pants in the top portion of your locker. Hurry up and get out of those before you get sick."  
  
"Thanks Rose! Thanks Poe!" With that, Rey heads through the doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly, How many have you heard of what 'Tachos' are? Anyone actually eat them? They're a regular item, on Tuesdays, at my hospital cafeteria. My co-worker and supervisor love them so much it's pretty adorable to see them get excited over them. (I avoid the item due to my somewhat poor stomach's abilities to digest certain foods)


	3. Built like a Tree

The only thing Rey appreciated about this particularly shitty Tuesday was the fact that the cafeteria was actually selling Tachos. They were one of many comfort foods for Rey and as she listened to Rose go on about how excited she was to be going home to see her parents, Rey was happy to have her mouth stuffed with tater-tot-taco-seasoned-meat-cheesy goodness. As Rose rambled on, Rey kept thinking back to the fact that the next two weeks were going to be somewhat hard to tolerate without her friends. It was going to be one of the first times she'd be without her friends since they'd all met.  
  
She'd met Finn years ago, the two instantly bonded when they'd found out they'd both been through the foster system. They attended the same junior college and eventually, Finn got a job at the hospital. Rey had continued her education in hopes of getting her business degree in Automotive. Desperate for money, Rey also applied to the same hospital as Finn and had gotten interviewed by Poe. Two weeks later and she'd been extended an offer of working with engineering. Turns out, she'd been overqualified for the job and Poe had no reason to deny her. He'd also found out she was a great friend of Finn's and didn't want to risk the friendship (now relationship) he was building with the man.   
  
A month into working at the hospital, Rey had met Rose and instantly the two women had bonded over their love of classic cars. Paige was last on the list of Rey's close friends. Rose had brought her home one evening for movies and popcorn and the two of them had become friends as easily as the younger of the Tico sisters. In the beginning, they all spent lots of time together, inside and outside of work, hanging out and having long forgotten game nights. Not that she'd had much free time this semester to hang out with them except for work, she just felt like the following weeks weren't going to be that much exciting.   
  
She still had two large papers to work on and plan out her final project in the 'Chop Shop' class she was taking. Students in the Automotive field were required to complete one large project in their area of study. If you'd studied body modifications, you were required to modify something. The same was required if you studied the basics on rebuilding transmissions; you'd need to find a salvageable trans to rebuild. Since Rey's classes were very general and covered just about everything from Fabrication to Restoration, her counselor said she had more choices on what she would like to do for her final; she'd already started to scribble down ideas in her notebooks as she thought of them.  
  
Rose noticed Rey's disconnect from the conversation and pulled her back to reality. "Rey?"  
  
Mid bite, Rey looked at the woman sitting across from her. She cocked an eye brow in question so as to not speak with her mouth full. Her manners were never the greatest, but they were managing to get better over time.   
  
"I asked, are you sure you're going to be alright when we're all gone?" Rose looked at her friend with genuine concern.   
  
Swallowing, Rey nods and smiles. "You bet. So long as I don't have any more run ins with a particular douche of a doctor, you and Paige won't have to cut your vacation short to come bail me out of jail." Oh god. Why did she have to go and mention Solo.   
  
"So... His personality doesn't match his looks, huh?"  
  
Rey almost choked on a mouthful of food. "Oh god. Rose. No. No no no. He's terrible. Unless you're interested in the tall, dark and pretentious type - by all means, but god no." _His eyes were kind of nice though._  
  
Her friend laughed. "Tall and dark, eh? Sounds like he's just up your alley, Rey."  
  
 _Adult Code Blue. Four Classic. Adult Code Blue. Four Classic. Adult Code Blue. Four Classic._  
  
The two pause as they listen to the overhead call out the code. A cardiac arrest patient on the fourth floor. After a moment, Rey looks back at Rose. "That was one time and that guy was psychotic! I'm pretty sure he's a permanent resident here on classic five.” This being the only guy who's tried to date her back in her early years of college. "Besides, that doctor is terrible to his associates. How does he even get patients to come see him!?" Rey could only cringe as she sets her fork down.  
  
Rose shrugs as she takes a bite of her burger. "Most of his patients are old. Maybe they're too blind and deaf to hear or see him half the time."  
  
Rey snorts. "I swear, you should have been there. He was seconds from yelling at me after I got off the phone with Finn earlier; face red as a tomato too."   
  
Rose can only chuckle. "And you threw a pen at him. How did you get out of that one?"  
  
"Almost didn't but I don't think he's the type to have the time to go through the paperwork of filing for a corrective action; Chain of command, remember? He’d have to file the complaint with Poe and I’m almost positive Poe would defend me.” Rose nods at that as she stands and starts to clean up her lunch. "And besides," Rey stands as well and throws all her used napkins on her tray. "I'm sure he's dug himself a deep enough hole that any associate could file a complaint towards him."  
  
Rose smirks. "You gunna do that?"  
  
Rey snorts as she dumps her trash in the bin. "Hell no. That paperwork usually takes weeks, if not, months and we all know he has better chances of being fired before then. I wouldn’t want to bother Poe with that either.”   
  
As Rose and Rey head for the elevators to take back down to the Base, Rey finally relaxes as she goes though a mental list of things she needs to complete before she leaves for the day. The first on that list is the light bulb; she feels like she's seen enough of Doctor Solo to last her the next year. Rose is talking again about her vacation plans as the elevator stops occasionally to let other riders off and on.   
  
When the doors open on the fourth floor, Rey's heart stops when she comes face to face with Doctor Solo and what looks like two of his other associates; doctors clearly from the white jackets they both sport. Flanking him on the right, a tall thin woman with short blonde hair. She's a hair taller than Solo, but holds a few more inches on him considering the heels she's got strapped to her feet easily adds four inches. To his left is a man with ginger hair and what looks to be a permanent scowl plastered to his face; the definition of his scowl only worsens slightly when he sees Rey and Rose. Ben can only hold eye contact with Rey for a short time before he steps to get on the elevator.  
  
When the trio steps on, Rose is silent as she side eyes Rey who can only stare at the back of Solo's head. The ginger haired doctor starts to talk again as the elevator descends; the blonde is looking at her phone as she scrolls through her emails clearly not interested in the conversation. Ben looks a little stiff as he stands and nods occasionally at what the ginger is saying.   
  
Rose lightly elbows Rey a few times in the side to get her attention. When Rey rips her eyes away from Ben's hair, she looks at the girl next to her who has her eyes brows raised in question. They both look between the three doctors who are doing a perfect job at ignoring them. As the elevator comes to a halt on the first floor, the red head is quick to walk past Ben and get out of the confined space as quickly as possible. Ben steps aside to let the blonde out, his arm stretched out to hold the elevator doors open. Her heels are loud as she confidently steps off and thanks him. Ben is last to go but continues to hold the door as he looks back at Rose and Rey. "Coming off?"  
  
Rey points down and says rather stiffly. "Basement."  
  
Ben nods slightly with a tight smile and takes his arm out of the way, allowing the doors to shut and continue their decent. Rose is quick to turn on Rey and shake her by the shoulders. "Holy shit, Rey!"  
  
Rey frowns "Holy shit, what?"  
  
Rose looks mildly surprised. "Tall, dark, pretentious and maybe you should have mentioned built like a fucking tree! Rey, oh my god, you even threw a pen at him!" she seems to be suffering some crisis Rey can't understand.   
  
"Rose, I don't see the big deal?"  
  
Rose sputters as they step off on the basement. "Don't see the big deal? Rey! He is a big deal; if he's really that huge, imagine what else is that big! Did you see his feet?! Just think of those large arms hiking you up against the wall while he-"  
  
Rey covers her ears. "Rose! For the love of god, do not finish that sentence! Please, please do not!" She can feel her cheeks turning red at the small thought of where Rose's train of thought was going.   
  
"Don't finish what sentence?" Finn looks up from his computer; Poe isn't in the room anymore. _Oh thank god it's just Finn._  
  
"The fact that Rey never told us just how fucking built Doctor Solo really is. Finn, He's a damned tree and those arms could easily hold any willing female against the wall so he could ravage them." Rose is fanning herself while Rey just rolls her eyes and heads for the storage room.   
  
Finn sounds more surprised at what Rose is saying. "You didn't know? Rose, I thought you knew better. I figured by now you would have google searched him or checked the associate directory."  
  
"Finn! You knew!? We agreed to always share spicy men details! Seriously, I just thought he was some old man who was grumpy - not a young stud!" Rose sighs and adds a little too loudly. "Too bad Rey has already staked her claim on him." She sits and slumps in her chair.  
  
In the storage closet, Rey comes close to dropping a light bulb after hearing Rose's comment. "I've got no claim on anyone, Rose! You want a chance with the biggest man child I've ever met, have at it!" She emerges with a scowl on her face. "He's not even that good looking."  
  
Rose turns to her computer screen and mumbles. "Sure. You keep telling yourself that. Whatever helps you sleep at night."   
  
Rey can only roll her eyes as she emerges with her cart loaded with supplies. She's grabbed enough light bulbs to replace each one in his office; she doesn't want to chance another bulb fizzling out in a week. As she readjusts her utility belt and ensures her wireless phone is charged, she clips her walkie to her hip and looks over at Finn. "Put me down for the 605 job. I'll call in once the job is complete."   
  
Finn salutes. "You got it Peanut. Update me if you plan to pause the job again."   
  
Rey smiles. "Doubt I'll have to but if I must, I'll slip you a call." With one final salute, she exits.  
  
\-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- ---  
  
He's on his fourth cup of coffee and Ben still feels like he's been hit by a semi truck. Granted the excessive amounts of coffee he's managed to intake in the past few hours isn't exactly the healthiest, but he's still got a few patients to get through and he needs to be at the top of his game. Running into Rey just didn't help his situation.   
  
When Hux had called him to see if he wanted to join Phasma and himself for lunch, Ben agreed. He wasn't exactly ready to hear the irate ginger complain about how little he involved himself with people. When he'd exited the elevator, he'd walked past one of the seating areas and almost as if on instinct, his eyes caught sight of chestnut hair thrown in a messy bun. Rey. Again.   
  
She was with someone this time, a small asian girl who seemed to be panicking over the amount of hot sauce Rey was putting on whatever her lunch was. _Tachos? Those looked like the Tachos..._ "Jesus Christ, Rey! I think that's enough! You don't want to burn holes in your stomach later, do you?" Ben also just hardly heard, "Imagine feeling that come out of you in eight hours."   
  
_Keep walking Solo_. Before he could be noticed, Ben slipped into the 'no entry' end of the cafe and waltzed over to the cold case. He wasn't really hungry but an empty stomach with nothing but coffee sloshing around wasn't healthy either. So he chooses to settle on some sandwich wrap; not exactly appealing but after eating the pizza and experiencing a rough round of food poisoning the following day... he hasn't looked at the cafeteria pizza the same since.   
  
He was quick to find Hux and Phasma over by the grill, clearly getting something far more expensive and appetizing over whatever wrap it was he blindly grabbed. He entered mid-conversation with Hux talking about one of his cardiac patients down on the cardiac unit possibly being close to expiring. The patient was young, in their fifties and was showing no signs of improvement; so far three other doctors have been involved with the guy but no one can figure out what's causing all the cardiovascular issues. Since Ben works more in Family Internal medicine and most of his patients are either babies or deaf old people who's problems usually consist of joint issues and erectile dysfunction, he's got nothing to offer Hux. Phasma is naming off possible issues while Hux takes notes on his phone.   
  
After the group pays for their food, Hux is quick to lead them to the secondary location for seating, completely steering them away from where Rey is possibly at. Ben isn't sure if he's relieved or disappointed.   
  
About ten minutes into their lunches, the overhead speaker system clicks on. Out of habit, all three of them stop mid-chew to better hear what's going to be said.   
  
_"Adult Code Blue. Four Classic. Adult Code Blue. Four-"_  
  
All three of them scoop up their remaining food and throw it to the trash before sprinting to the closest stair case. Maybe that's why Ben never gets food from the grill; less chances of wasting it if a code were to be called. They're on the tenth floor and need to quickly get down to the fourth. Sure the elevators seem like the logical idea, but during lunch time it can be hard to get an elevator that won't stop on each floor down. Hux seems the most concerned cursing under his breath that it had ‘better not be his patient’. He's at the front of the pack as Phasma is close behind to follow (even in what looks to be five inch heels). Ben still doesn't understand how she does it so easily but one of these days he is sure she will break her ankle.   
  
When they reach the fourth floor, Hux is practically frantic looking around the unit for any indication that the cardiac arrest patient is his. Ben spots a group of what looks like resident students huddled around a door on the far end of the unit and nudges Hux. Hux relaxes slightly and mutters a quick "Not mine..." and the three of them hurry over to push past the group of  students taking mental notes of the situation. Phasma being a Cardiologist is quick to jump in and assist her fellow team mates while Ben and Hux occasionally answer any questions that the med-students have.   
  
Minutes later, the patient is being put on a cart to be wheeled down to the O.R.; according to Phasma, it looked like the patient suffered a heart valve failure and was going to need an extensive operation down in the Cath Lab.   
  
Was it unhealthy to want another large cup of coffee? As Ben had been heading back toward the elevators (Hux and Phasma following behind him) all he could think about was possibly getting another cup of coffee and maybe a new sandwich wrap to eat in his office alone. Unfortunately at this point, his body would soon be rejecting all the caffeine he was consuming. He'd either throw it all up or collapse in his office and have his very own code blue called on himself.   
  
He was close to collapsing when the doors to the elevators opened. Right in front of him stood hazel eyes and a navy jump suit. Standing in the elevator was petite little Rey and her coworker. The only thing he could do was step in after Hux and Phasma and turn away from them as Hux rattled on about... whatever it was he was talking about. If Ben hadn't been paying attention before, he surely wasn't paying attention now. Rey, the little spitfire from Facilities was less than two feet behind him; he was pretty sure the tips of his ears were stained red.  
  
It made no sense. In the span of a few hours, Ben felt himself getting increasingly more self conscious about himself. Sure, he knew he was an asshole, but hearing her throw it all back at him earlier made him feel like the shittiest person on the planet. In her presence, he felt like at any moment, she would humiliate him in front of as many people as she could and he'd probably go full douchebag and prove her point.   
  
When the elevator reached the first floor, his destination, Ben tried his best to relax. Hux was the first to push off the elevator and Ben being the ‘gentleman’ he was, let Phasma off next. He felt so stupid turning to the two woman and asking, “Coming off?”  
  
Rey could only point to the floor and mutter _“Basement.”_  
  
With a nod, he let the elevator go and followed his friends back towards the professional building. Before fully making back to the elevators to return to his suite, he politely excused himself and turned around to head back to the cafe. He really needed that cup of coffee.   
  
Currently at this exact moment, this is the dilemma he faces: four large cups of coffee, knowing Rey will probably be back to fix the light bulb at any minute, unknown butterflies in his stomach with the pressing need to possibly throw up and the dying need for a nap creep up on him all at once. He probably looks like trash; a quick glance at the mirror in his office says ‘Yes. Definitely looks like he’s seen better days.’  
  
He flops down in his office chair and reaches for his next patient’s records but finds he can’t focus one bit on the text scattered across the page. His mind keeps slipping back to Rey. He keeps running his hand through his hair, occasionally tugging on it to attempt to wake himself up and take his mind off of everything. He eventually gives up and lets his head rest in his arms.   
  
Just as his eyelids begin to win the battle of staying closed, his wireless phone goes off and jolts him awake. He answers the call with a scowl. “Doctor Solo.”  
  
“Ah, uhm...” he relaxes. It’s just Tiffany. “Your patient, Carol, is here for her appointment. She’s in room three.”   
  
Ben gets up and stretches, his back cracking in several spots. “Thanks.” He pulls the phone away from his ear and ends the call.   
  
Time for work.   
  
\-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- ---  
  
When Rey gets to suite 605, she’s deep in thought on whether or not her weapon of choice will be her clip board or one of her four foot long light bulbs; she wants to be prepared for whatever bullshit Solo will pull with her this time. She expects to see Doctor Solo in the office but as she rolls her cart into the waiting room, she is greeted by Tiffany behind the desk. In the corner by the fish tank reading a car magazine is an older man. On the seat next to him is a woman’s hand bag and sweater.   
  
Tiffany is kind enough to open the door leading towards the back and she is even more gracious to mention that Doctor Solo is in with a patient right now and she’s got a great chance of not running into him. Rey calculates her time to the average time a Doctor and patient are in an exam room together. She will be lucky if she’s got 15 minutes to get the bulbs changed and her ass out of his office before he comes back.   
  
She grabs her ladder and makes her way over to Ben’s office. She props the door open with her cart and sets to getting the bulbs replaced. The fixture has 4 bulbs to it and luckily they’re the easier fluorescent bulbs to replace.   
  
Rey works quick like normal and in 8 minutes, the cover is back on the light fixture and she’s folding her ladder up and mounting it back on her cart. She grabs her clip board so she can finish filling out the work order request and goes to leave his office.   
  
Just as the lock clicks in place, her ears pick up on a woman happily babbling on about something in the waiting area. She looks over through the window by Tiffany’s desk and sees a small petite woman talking to Ben. He’s giving her his full attention as he occasionally nods at whatever it is she is saying. He’s got his hands resting in his coat pockets and his shoulders  are slightly drooping; he looks relaxed. In no way does he look like the asinine jerk from just a few hours ago.   
  
As the woman goes to put on her sweater, Ben is talking to her about something and the woman’s husband is nodding at whatever is being said. He’s then shaking both their hands as they turn to leave the office. He stands there for a moment after the couple has left and Rey sees him relax even more as he lets loose what looks to be a sigh. He then reaches up and tugs his hands through his hair a few times as he turns to walk towards the back.   
  
Not wanting to be near his office, Rey is quick to push her cart towards the door. As Ben opens it, they both stop in their tracks and just... stare at one another. Tiffany is no where to be seen so Rey is alone as Ben just stands in the door way. She stands up straighter and looks him square in the eyes.   
  
“Your bulbs are all replaced. None of them should be going out for a while.”  
  
Ben just continues to stand there before visibly swallowing. “Uhm... thank you.”   
  
“You’re welcome.” She wants to be short and sweet with this conversation. “Now, if you’ll excuse me?” Rey moves to go push her cart through the door hoping Ben will get the hint to move out of her way.   
  
He doesn’t catch on right away but when it looks like it finally clicks, he practically fumbles to move out of her way while simultaneously trying to hold the door for her. She doesn’t thank him and as she heads for the exit, Ben speaks up again.   
  
“I’m sorry for how I acted earlier.” The words come tumbling from his mouth so quickly she almost doesn’t hear him. She looks over her shoulder at him with an eyebrow raised. He’s not looking at her but can tell he’s trying to choose his next words carefully.   
  
He sighs before continuing. “I had no right to speak to you in the way that I did and for that I apologize. It was highly inappropriate of me.”   
  
She’s imagining it again: Ben Solo trying to be nice. Her stomach flops a little as she looks at the man worrying his jaw and swallowing so much you can’t miss it with how prominent his Adam’s apple is. He’s trying to be the bigger person here and Rey should just accept it, but she can’t. Just because he is apologizing to her, doesn’t mean that makes up for all the stuff he’s said and done to his own staff.   
  
When Ben works up the courage to look her in the eyes, Rey can only respond to his apology with a huff and an eye roll.   
  
“Sure. Whatever.”   
  
She yanks the suite door open, rolls her cart out and excuses herself leaving Doctor Ben Solo to stand there in the company of no one but the ticking clock and swimming fish.   
  
\-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- ---  
  
The rest of Tuesday breezes by quickly and at five, Rey is clocking out and heading for the exit. She has a class at six and if she wants to make it on time, she needs to be on one of the next three buses heading towards the campus.   
  
Before she bolts for the door, she flags down Poe. "Hey, Boss!"  
  
Poe looks over his shoulder. "What's up, Rey?"  
  
She holds up the bag that contains her damp work pants from the morning. "Thanks again for the dry slacks."  
  
Poe flashes her a signature smile and thumbs up. "Anytime! Be careful of those puddles and get to class safe. See you tomorrow."  
  
Rey waves and heads for the farthest loading dock to make her exit. The skies have cleared up since the morning and the sun is beginning to set. As she walks down the sidewalk along the South building, she hears the distinct rumble of what is possibly a deliciously tuned automobile. She's learned to never turn fully to look at whatever car may be passing because ninety percent of the time it's driven by some douchebag who knows his car is great. Her hearing is so well trained that she knows the car will be passing her in about fifteen seconds after they stop at the pedestrian crosswalk.   
  
She chances a glance to her right and is instantly triggered by what she see's drive past. Jet Black paint, Tinted windows and one hundred percent the Mustang from this morning. She has the pressing urge to run after it and shove her boot into a fender, but she holds herself back. Instead, she opts for raising her middle finger and waving it rather aggressively at the back end of the vehicle; if the owner sees her, she is so ready to rip them a new one.   
  
At the end of the drive, Rey pulls out her phone to see how much longer she has before a bus arrives. The bus app tells her she has about two minutes - Just enough time to jog down the rest of the sidewalk and make it before the light changes at the intersection. She sees the bus two lights down and she impatiently bounces on her feet as she waits for the lights to change.  
  
The second the light flips, Rey is half way in the intersection and skidding to a halt on the bus platform. The prospect of making the first bus always pleases Rey because that will give her enough time to get a couple snacks from the vending machines on campus. She boards the bus and is lucky to get a seat close to the back; the bus is already packed with a few students she recognizes from other commutes at this hour. She pulls out her mp3 player and relaxes into her seat; this commute will be roughly twenty-five minutes give or take how congested traffic is around the college campus.   
  
\-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- ---  
  
Ben is still sitting in traffic twenty minutes after getting food from the restaurant across the street from the hospital. After cutting his lunch short from the Code Blue and the excessive amounts of caffeine in his system, he was in the mood for some solid food - junk food to be exact.    
  
He's drumming his fingers on the steering wheel as he reaches into the bag on the passenger seat extracting a french fry in hopes of somewhat calming down his growling stomach. He pauses looking at the fry knowing damn well the order isn't going to make it home like the salad will.   
  
As he sits in traffic, his mind wanders back to what happened roughly half hour ago as he exited the back drive. He has no idea what prompted him to look in his rear view mirror, but the slight of a brunette’s messy bun and navy uniform in his peripheral had him instinctively glancing back to see if it was Rey walking on the side walk. The second his eyes caught sight of her, all he could see was her middle finger raised and it flying in the air. He could only sigh because he knew why she was doing the vulgar gesture.  
  
As traffic starts to move again, he focuses on not losing his cool while munching on the fries. Traffic is always worst around the local college. It’s usually the worst up until getting past the main university light. Right now, he’s stuck behind a bus which he already knows is going to stop just before the light and the lane next to him on the left has no opening for him to go around the blasted thing.   
  
Just as the light turns yellow, the bus signals its hazards and Ben has to refrain from slamming his forehead into the steering wheel. He aggressively munches on several french fries as he watches the bus empty of students. He damn near chokes when he sees messy bun climb off the bus and practically sprint across the intersection to make it on the other side before the light changes.   
  
He doesn’t even know he’s doing it, but he’s following Rey with his eyes as she disappears amongst the other students. It isn’t any of his business but the rest of his commute home has him calculating what little he knows about Rey. Full time Facilities worker. College student. She probably only manages five hours of sleep if that, but why should he care?   
  
_Why does he care?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> //lays flat// I just got back from a pretty crazy busy week and weekend and now I have 1 month until I will be selling at an anime convention... I have so much to prepare and i fear this story will jump into a super short hiatus while I take time to draw like crazy and talk to printing companies. Forgive me ; w ; 
> 
> If you'd like to follow me on my social media, you can see fun progress shots of what I'm doing. I'm active over on my Instagram @hoonbunn and if you'd like to follow my new art twitter, please do @hoonbunn5678


	4. Need a Bandaid?

Wednesday passed by uneventful and slow. Rey found herself sitting with Rose and Finn in the dispatch office more than she found herself on the floor fixing broken things. Poe didn’t mind considering he also sat around, scrolling through his social media and showing Finn things they could do on their vacation.  
  
Poe even took the opportunity to sit down with Rey and give her the run down of what was going on for the next few weeks. She was given the schedule and shift rotations. She’d have to join in on a walk with the hospital President and CEO to discuss the upcoming upgrades coming to the surgical intensive care unit. She would be acting supervisor a few times and even work the graveyard shift on the nights she didn’t have school or have to work at the cafe. Poe had organized everything into a small binder for Rey to hold onto and if she were to have any questions, she was free to text him.  
  
The day Rey dreads the most is Thursday; the day her friend’s long awaited vacations all start. Rose and Paige had left the night prior and Finn and Poe flew out early Thursday morning while Rey was on the bus headed to work. As she walked up the South building drive towards the loading docks, she was updated with a selfie of the Tico sisters with their parents.  
  
Just as Poe had constructed the schedule to spread out Rey’s two weeks, Thursday she has the opportunity to be acting first shift supervisor while filling in on short staffed locations. Staffing issues fell on the dispatch office and the Professional building. So, as Rey sits half asleep in dispatch next to Snap (who keeps grumbling about the sanitizer machines going neglected), she reviews all the open jobs and starts to balance them throughout the queue. Snap mumbles something about needing a coffee and gets up to leave just as Rey readies to start a simple job in the Bed Tower.  
  
Not wanting to leave a post unattended, Rey waits for Snap to get back. The main phone rings. She rolls her eyes and she reaches for the receiver; it’s probably some nurse too lazy to fill out a work request online.    
  
“Facilities, this is Rey. What can I do for you?”  
  
The line is silent for a few seconds and Rey begins to think it was a misdialed number. She repeats herself. “Facilities, this is Rey.”  
  
_“Good Morning, Rey.”_  
  
Her blood runs cold as she hears the low baritone voice on the other line of the phone. Screw the lazy nurse; of course it would be a lazy doctor. She looks at the caller ID and her blood freezes as she realized her suspicions are indeed correct.  
  
_‘PRO BLD 605 WRLSS’_  
  
She doesn’t want to deal with him and she’s positive he’s gone and broken something or found something stupid that needs fixing. She’s had enough of Doctor Ben Solo to last her a life time and now that she’s trapped on the phone with him, she silently wishes she would have left the post unattended.  
  
She hadn’t realized she was the one silent but the clearing of a throat on the other end of the phone drags her back to reality. “ _Good Morning, Rey. How are you?_ ”  
  
She continues to stay quiet, silently fuming and wishing Snap would hurry his ass back to the dispatch office.  
  
_“Rey?”_  
  
The door opens and Snap saunters back in with coffee in hand. She reacts quickly and presses the ‘END’ button on the phone and all but slams down the receiver. She grabs her wireless phone and walkie talkie. She pushes past Snap with a quick “I’ll be back to cover your lunch.” and she’s out the door. Just as she passes the threshold, the main dispatch line rings again and Rey’s only thought is ‘not my problem’.  
  
\-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- —  
  
Ben stands in his office staring wide eyed at his phone for a couple of seconds. _Did Rey just…_  
  
He’d come into the office in a somewhat better mood. With Wednesday passing with no problem, an actual lunch and his chance to catch up on a book at home, he was ready for his busy schedule on Thursday. Census was usually higher on Thursday’s and that’s when he saw a good chunk of his patients.  
  
His temper was surly being tested when he’d come into the office early just to take an inventory of his exam room and catch up on paperwork. He’d been washing his hands before heading back to his desk when he’d gone to turn the faucet off; the hot water handle snapping square off and spraying half the sink area with water. He wasn’t even being aggressive with the damned thing!  
  
He’d been hit in the face and his hair was dripping by the time he’d crouched down to kill off the water line all together. He remained crouching for a moment to steady his breathing. After grabbing a bundle of paper towels to wipe at his face and exit his exam room, he almost collided with Tiffany.  
  
She had a box of pastries in her hand. “Good Morning, Doctor Solo!” She held the box towards him, offering him one.  
  
He was silent for a moment and noticed how quickly the girl went from being friendly to almost terrified and he could only sigh. He seriously was feared by many. “No. Thank you, I’m good for now.”  
  
Tiffany shifted on her feet as she closed the box and nodded. She also seemed to take notice of his soaked white coat and the wet ends of his hair. She was about to question it before he stopped her.  
  
“Broke the sink. Can I have the number for Facilities?”  
  
She had the number memorized and he made sure to thank her as he walked towards his office and put the extension in his phone. It rang a few times before Ben heard the receiver click and he was greeted by a sweet voice.  
  
_“Facilities, this is Rey. What can I do for you?”_  
  
He felt his throat close up and stopped running the paper towels through his hair. _Just the person he’d been thinking of…_  
  
He didn’t realize how long he’d been silent so when Rey repeated herself, he struggled to figure out what to say. _Something nice… neutral…_  
  
“Good Morning, Rey.”  
  
Now it was her side of the phone to go silent and Ben could only hope to coax a little more out of her. After brushing off his apology on Tuesday with a snuffy ‘whatever’ he had this distinct nagging feeling that Rey still couldn’t tolerate him. “Good Morning, Rey. How are you?”  
  
A few more seconds passed and then the line cut off - abruptly.  
  
This is where Ben currently stands, staring stupidly at his wireless phone. He’d tried to be nice and she went ahead and hung up on him. For fuck’s sake, his sink was broken and he’d like to trust Rey with getting it fixed.  
  
He clicks the ‘redial’ button on his phone and brings it back to his ear. When the receiver clicks on the other end, he was ready to say something snarky but stops short when a very bored, male voice speaks.  
  
_“Facilities, this is Snap. What can I do ya’ for?”_  
  
Ben starts to pace the length of his office. “Is Rey there?”  
  
There was a pause. _“Nah Dude. Rey went off to do a job. Can I take a message?”_  
  
“Uh… Uhm… Yes.” Ben quickly remembers back on Tuesday - Rey probably has her own wireless house phone on her. “Actually, does Rey have a wireless phone? An extension I can call her at, personally?”  
  
He hears a shuffling of paper and a grunt. _“Hold on dude. I don’t know this stuff off the top of my head. Is this for a work request? Because, if it is, I’m going to have to ask you to fill out a request form onlin- Ah there it is.”_  
  
Ben throws the paper towels he’s been using on his hair in the trash by the door. “Just wanted to ask her something…”  
  
He hears Snap snort. _“Hope it’s not for a date cause that’s a lost cause. Call her at 21-8127.”_  
  
“8-1-2-7.” Ben scribbles down the extension on a post-it note. “Thanks.” He promptly hangs up and quickly types in Rey’s extension.  
  
It rings a few times before it cuts to a voicemail inbox. _“Hello. You’ve reached Rey Johnson from Facilities. Please leave your name and extension and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.”_ He pulls the phone away from his ear, hangs up and hits the redial button. He does this a total of six times before finally his call goes through.  
  
_“For the love of all that is good and holy, what the fuck do you want, Solo?! How did you get my extension?”_ He hears her voice echo on the other side of the line. Was she in a stairwell?  
  
“Well hello to you too, Sunshine.” Ben smirks as he leans against his desk. “How’s your day going?”  
  
_“It would be a hell of a lot better if you would leave me the bloody hell alone. What do you want?”_  
  
“I can’t just call to chat? What makes you think I need somethi-“ He is cut off by her sneer.  
  
_“What the fuck did you break?”_  
  
Ben sighs. “I didn’t break anything.” Yes he did.  
  
**_CLICK._**  
  
Ben pulls the phone away from his ear, hangs up and redials her once more; he’s getting used to expecting her to hang up. When she picks up, she doesn’t say anything on her side, clearly waiting for Ben to talk.  
  
He audibly sighs. “The sink in my exam room broke.”  
  
Rey groans and slams something down on her end. _“You’ve got to be kidding me! How the hell-? No, Fill out a facilities request you lazy arse.”_  
  
He’s pushed off his desk and rounding over to his computer as she voices her demand, sitting in his office chair. He nests the phone between ear and shoulder as he makes to pull up the request form on his computer. “I mean sure, I can do that but, Rey?”  
  
She sounds extra angry, speaking through clenched teeth. _“What?”_  
  
“Can I request you?”  
  
**_CLICK._**  
  
\-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- —  
  
Rey was mad.  
  
No.  
  
Rey was fuming.  
  
Not only Did her morning start off extra early, but Ben fucking Solo had called her personally about something, he now had her extension. Icing on the cake - Snap had called her fifteen minutes after her final call with Ben to tell her she had a special request lined up for her in the queue.  
  
She’d gone back to the base to immediately tell Snap to reroute the job into someone else's queue. To her unfortunate luck, everyone else on shift was tied up on projects of their own. She could relocate someone onsite but that would just cause more aggravation.  
  
Now, as Rey takes the elevator in the Professional building up to the sixth floor, she debates the possible ways she can pummel Solo with the broken faucet; maybe even shove it up his bloody arse well enough that he’d need to ask the main OR to _surgically remove it._  
  
Stepping out of the elevator and rolling just outside the door of 605, Rey scribbles on yet another job report form with her trusty favorite (taped up) pen. She takes note of the supplies she’d retrieved from the supply closet and the description of the job before heading for the door.  
  
Just as she opens the door, she spooks Tiffany who seemed to have been reaching for the door handle herself. Behind her is an older couple; the woman is in a wheelchair and the man is pushing said wheelchair. Rey steps aside to hold open the door and wave bye to the couple.  
  
When she turns back to the entrance, Tiffany smiles happily and greets Rey. “Hey! It’s good to see you again!”  
  
Rey gives the woman a half smile. “Nice to see you as well, Tiffany. As much as I wish that it were under different circumstances... I got a request that one of the exam offices has a broken sink.”  
  
Tiffany nods. “Yes! I was just coming in this morning when I heard Doctor Solo curse at something. The sink is in exam 3.”  
  
Rey can only roll her eyes. _You’d think he’d have exam room 1_... “Sounds like a plan then.” Rey holds up the new faucet handle. “Should be a quick fix. I’ll be done in a jiffy so Solo can have his precious room back.”  
  
“Of course! Thank you for coming so quickly, Rey. When you finish, I brought in some sweet rolls if you’d like?”  
  
With her back turned, Rey calls over her shoulder as she heads towards the back rooms. “I may seriously take you up on that offer!”  
  
There’s no sign of Solo as she heads down the small corridor to Exam 3. His office door is closed so there’s a very good chance that’s where the idiot is hiding. When Rey gets to the sink in question, the broken handle is sitting inside the bowl and there is still water on the floor and wall.  
  
She sets her clip board down on the stool and unclips her vise grips from her utility belt. Considering she’s going to need to crawl under the sink, she opts to remove her heavy belt and sets it down on the sink’s surface.  
  
On her knees, she ensures the water supply to the sink is cut off completely and sets to work. Half way through securing the new fixture, Rey can’t help but feel like she’s being… _watched_? She chooses to ignore it for a few more moments before she needs to grab her roll of waterproof seal tape. She has to resist the urge to throw her vise grips across the room.  
  
Ben is standing in the doorway leaning on the frame, arms crossed over his chest as he watches Rey work. When she chooses to acknowledge him, her eyes travel down his body, surveying his choice of clothing for the day. He’s wearing his white medical coat over a dark navy dress shirt; the buttons just barely containing all that chest. Her eyes continue south to his charcoal dress slacks, black socks and expensive looking dress shoes.  
  
Her mouth feels like it’s been stuffed with cotton balls and she silently wishes she could turn the sink on and drink directly from the faucet. He doesn’t make a sound as she makes direct eye contact with him, huffs and turns her attention back to the sink.  
  
“Don’t you have anything better to do? Something else to go break?” She’s perched over the sink putting the finishing touches on the handle; her ass the center of attention as she bends over.  
  
She doesn’t see it, but Ben shrugs; his eyes subconsciously glued to her back side. “Next patient isn’t due for-“ He forces himself to look at his watch. “-Next half hour or so.” He smirks. “I could go break something around the office if you’re desperate for work.”  
  
Rey can only groan. “For the love of god, don’t touch anything.” She waves her vise grips so he’s able to see them. “So help me, If you do, I’ll shove these so far up your arse, you’ll need them surgically removed.”  
  
Ben can only chuckle. “I’d like to see you try.”  
  
“Don’t tempt me, Solo.” Rey straightens up and sets her equipment down. “Now, the moment of truth.”  
  
She leans over and turns back on the water valve and inspects the sink. “No leaks.” She looks at Ben with a cheeky smile and then reaches for the knob.  
  
The knob works perfectly and Rey makes sure to turn it on and off a few times to make sure everything is as it should be. Once satisfied, she double checks the knob for the cold water.  
  
She’s not the least bit aggressive and it seems like her luck is absolute garbage lately. She turns the knob into the ‘off’ position - _and it snaps clean off_. Cold water shoots from the spot where the knob had just been, and Rey doesn’t move, doesn’t flinch, as she’s sprayed with cold water along with the second half of the exam room. She just stares at the sink with a blank expression; knob in her hand.  
  
Ben curses, leaps into action and dashes for the valve cut off. Once water isn’t soaking the wall and Rey, Ben sighs and takes a step away from the sink and her.  
  
She hasn’t moved or blinked as her wet hair drips onto the soaked top half of her uniform. Ben isn’t sure if he should say something or be absolutely terrified and leave the room. After a few moments, he figures he should at least say something. “Rey?’  
  
Regret fills his blood stream; he definitely should have just left Rey alone.  
  
It all happens so quickly: Her body goes stiff, her grip on the faucet handle is so fierce that her knuckles are turning white, her face is turning red and she’s clenching her jaw so hard that Ben is pretty positive he sees a vein beginning to protrude from her neck.  
  
Rey has this uncanny ability that can make any grown man flinch; Ben being no exception. She makes this frightening noise that starts at the back of her throat and she practically screams in frustration. She lifts the hand holding the faucet handle and throws it with such a force at a corner of the room causing it to ricochet and hit Ben in the shin.  
  
He yelps as the metal makes contact. “Jesus fuck! Rey, what the hell is your probl-“ his sentence is cut off by Rey spinning on him and unleashing whatever anger she had allowed to bottle up.  
  
“SHUT. UP.” She’s grabbing her clip board and scribbling something down on it with such vigor Ben is pretty sure she’s going to rip through the paper report with the tip of her pen.  
  
She carelessly tosses her clip board to the ground before she shoves past Ben to exit the exam room and walk rather heavy footed through the suite. Tiffany sits at her desk, wide eyed and fingers hovering frozen over her keyboard. The secretary chances a glance down the corridor to the exam rooms and sees Ben standing half in the door way just as surprised and shrugging.  
  
Rey comes back in moments later with the spare faucet handle from her cart in her hands. She practically stomps her way back through the waiting room and yanks open every door in her path.  
  
When she reaches exam 3, Ben is practically panicking, thinking of ways to calm Rey down. He goes to grab her shoulder to stop her, hopes to ground her and calm her down. “Rey, relax. It’s not that big a dea-”  
  
Rey is frighteningly strong. She’s so strong that when she grabs Ben by his coat and shoves him from the room, he’s caught off guard and trips over his own feet and has to grab the wall to keep from falling over.  
  
“Damnit, Rey.”  
  
She slams the exam room door. “PISS. OFF. SOLO!”  
  
"Hey!" Ben reaches to push open the door. "Open this door!" He's got the door cracked a few inches before it slams shut and he hears the lock click into place. "Rey!"  
  
Ben stands in the small hall way and takes the opportunity to breathe and glance back over at Tiffany. The girl looks genuinely concerned and Ben just waves it off.  
  
He debates going back to his office but opts for leaning on the wall just outside the door. He crosses his arms over his cheat and can hear Rey mumbling something on the other side of the wood but can't make any sense of it. He hears another loud clatter and then, silence.  
  
Ben's not sure if the silence is a good thing or not but he's a pretty quick learner and he keeps his mouth shut. When he hears the lock on the door click, he doesn't move.  
  
This time, Rey doesn't yank the door open. She does stand in the threshold; her utility belt is back on her hips, faucet handles in one hand and she's got the clip board under her arm. Her uniform shirt still looks wet as it clings to her shoulders. The half style pony tail she had been sporting it now a messy bun. Considering the tiny trash can behind her is now overflowing with wet paper towels, it looks like she may have tried to clean up what she could.  
  
Ben cocks his head to the side slightly and raises an eyebrow almost to ask if things are okay.  
  
Rey's expression is blank as she looks down at his legs. "You need a bandaid?"  
  
It takes his brain a second to process that she's asking if his shin is alright after getting hit by the metal handle. His mouth twitches as he holds back a smile. "I figured you could kiss it, make it feel better." He jokingly lifts his 'injured' leg and turns his mouth down in a mock pout.  
  
Rey can only sigh and roll her eyes. "Go choke on a latex glove, Solo."  
  
He does chuckle at that. “We know that can be arranged.”  
  
Rey’s mouth twitches in a slight upward turned smile. “It most certainly could be.” She holds up the broken faucet handles. “Now, everything is all fixed. You may want to give EVS a call however... those paper towels are absolute rubbish at absorbing things and everything is still a bit wet in the exam room.”  
  
Ben nods. “Sure. Yeah. I can do that.” He pauses for a moment and is about to speak again but Rey is already making her way back towards the waiting area.  
  
He stands there for a few seconds longer, feet rooted to the floor as he watches Rey open the door and head for the exit. He’s moving the next second to follow her, not sure what exactly possesses him to do so. “Rey.”  
  
She’s got her hand on the door knob as she glances back at him. “Hm?”  
  
“I appreciate you coming to fix the sink.” He scratches at the back of his neck as he looks at the carpet. “Sorry about the-” He gestures towards his clothes and then her damp upper body. “The indoor sprinkler.” His humor is terrible but when she cracks the smallest of smiles at him, he feels his chest tighten and his blood pressure spikes; his ears also feel warm. She has a cute smile.  
  
She throws the humor back at Ben. “At least it wasn’t a clogged toilet with some kid’s toy and their possible feces.”  
  
He’s about to chuckle at the remark but immediately reanalyzes the sentence. “Wait… you’ve had to seriously fix a problem like that?!” He knows he sounds shocked; he genuinely is.  
  
Rey just shrugs. “I mean, it get’s weirder? This is a hospital. Lots of people don’t care because it’s not their own home.”  
  
Ben considers replying but the topic of clogged toilets isn’t exactly the type of conversation he would like to keep with Rey while in the waiting room. He shifts on his feet and shoves his hands deeper into his coat pockets. He goes to speak, finds that his voice catches in his throat and quickly clears his air way.  
  
“Did Tiffany mention she’d brought in sweet rolls today?”  
  
It’s amusing how quickly Rey’s mood perks up; it’s actually pretty adorable and Ben finds his heart stuttering again. It’s endearing how she suddenly looks more carefree, a sparkle in her eyes as she looks at the objects in her hands, and then at the suite door and then past Ben at the door leading past the waiting area.  
  
“Oh, Yeah!” She looks back down at her hands and then at the exit. “I would love one! Let me just-“ She gestures at her things hoping Ben understands what she’s trying to convey.  
  
He shifts on his feet again. “Do what you need to. I’ll show you where the break room is-”  
  
Rey is quick to dart out the door and in a matter of seconds, comes back and stands in front of Ben. She looks determined. “Lead the way.”  
  
And he does.  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Will Ben ever stop breaking things? Poor Rey just can't get a break, either. 
> 
> NOTE: EVS stands for Environmental Services. It's our department that is dedicated to janitorial services around my hospital. 
> 
> Just be aware - It's convention crunch time for me and next chapter will most likely come out after the July 4th holiday and after the convention.  
> If you're going to be in Chicago/Rosemont for Anime Midwest July 5-7th, come say hi!


	5. A Man's World

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He doesn’t register what he’s doing until he is doing it, but Ben has causally sauntered up behind her. He can see Rey’s eyes beginning to drift shut again as her fingers hover over the keyboard. He takes a quick glance at the paragraph she’s working on.
> 
>  
> 
> _...-with modern technology advancing all around us, the classic carborator calibration is vastly over looked now a days as society converts to all things electric and computer based. Many fail to realize that common issues all start from the fundamental systematic-_
> 
>  
> 
> “You misspelled carburetor.”

Ben wakes up Friday morning in the most horrifying way he can imagine; He’s got a raging hard on between his legs and he’s more embarrassed than he was when he first got one at the age of twelve. He’s in his thirties and sure, morning wood is a totally _normal_ thing for men but for him to get one _randomly_ this morning has him shoving his face back into his pillows. 

The occurrence isn’t random and he can’t lie to himself and say it is. He’s got no control over his wandering mind and its constant need to think about a certain messy bun brunette in facilities. Her freckle specked face and her bright hazel eyes. This is all so foreign to him and for any type of feelings to develop this quickly has Ben absolutely terrified. 

He glances at his alarm clock perched on his night stand. He’s got time… So as Ben closes his eyes and reaches down to take himself in hand, he should be ashamed of himself to let his mind fall back on Rey and the events of the prior day. 

Her peachy ass on display as she fixed the sink in the exam room; He had to resist the urge to come up from behind her and spread her wide. He wondered how much of her ass he could fit in his palms and curiosity got the better of him; what little noises would she make at the contact? The stuff he had imagined… 

It’s all very lewd and totally inappropriate but he can’t help himself. He sets a slow pace, gripping his length as he imagines Rey’s perfect plush lips taking him in her mouth. He can only groan at the thought. Her skilled tongue licking a stipe up his length and then her moans as she takes him as far as she can into her mouth. _God… he should stop_.

What didn’t help his subconscious lecherous mind was the noises she made as she enjoyed a sweet roll in the office break room. She’d picked up a cinnamon roll and immediately made the most sinful moan as she took her first bite; Ben felt like he could combust at any moment. If he didn’t fear the fact that Rey would go to HR, he would have had her against the door, sucking on her lips and getting his own fill. 

The cinnamon roll was also obviously fresh so the icing had slipped down Rey’s chin once or twice and Ben found himself having to turn away from her and focus on the coffee maker as he tried his best to discreetly readjust the bulge growing in his pants. He’d just poured himself a hot cup of coffee when Tiffany had come into the break room. 

Rey and she immediately started to chat and with his blood flowing south quickly and leaving his brain void of any thoughts, Ben made quick measured movements to leave the room. He muttered another ‘thanks’ and was on his way; four rooms down the hall into his office where he promptly locked the door and glared at his then half hard dick. 

Now, here in his own bed, he starts the morning off with getting off. Ben can’t help the mass amounts of lewd thoughts and fantasies he’s come up with; the main star being a certain brunette facilities worker. He’s also very out of practice that he ends up reaching his breaking point far too quickly; his spend running down his hand as his body relaxes. 

He spends a few moments just staring at the ceiling as he comes back to his senses. When he’s fully aware of what he had just done, he gets himself out of bed, wipes his hand on his boxers and goes to take a shower to get ready for his day.   
  
Once showered, dressed and coffee freshly brewed, Ben arrives on campus around Ten. He parks his car in the physicians lot and takes his sweet time walking to the professional building. He occasionally takes sips from his coffee as he mentally prepares himself for what could possibly be a slow day in the office. 

When he is greeted by Tiffany, she mentions that two of his patients had chosen to reschedule their appointments and that his first visit was running late; something about being stuck on the interstate and there being an accident on the off ramp. Normally he wouldn’t be too thrilled about any of that information and judging by the way Tiffany is shrinking back in her seat, she’s expecting him to say something. 

His brain is still muddled with the activities of the morning, that he only tells Tiffany, “Just let me know when they show up.” He’s entering his office after that. 

He sets his coffee down and boots up the computer while he hangs his satchel on the hook behind the door and shrugs on his white coat. He spends a few minutes going through his work emails and sipping on his coffee. 

Tiffany is calling him fifteen minutes later to let him know his first patient has arrived and he gets ready to start his day. 

\-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- —

By noon, Ben only has one more patient penciled in and that won’t be until one thirty. His stomach is quick to remind him that coffee isn’t a sustainable food source so he decides to go and get an actual lunch. 

As he walks the hallway from the professional building to the main, he contemplates what to get himself for lunch. He probably will just settle for a pre-made sandwich item or salad. He really should consider bringing his own food at this point; that way he’d know it’d at least be good and satisfying. 

Ben takes the elevator up to cafe and luckily, it shoots from the lobby floor to the cafe with zero interruptions. He rounds the corner and heads for the cafe entrance, but not before spotting Rey. 

She’s sitting along the windows, ancient looking laptop open in front of her as her head bobs to the side; almost like she’s fighting to stay awake. There’s an open book sitting there was well clearly looking like it’s seen far better days. She sits up abruptly for a moment and goes to type a sentence out on what to looks to be a word document. 

He doesn’t register what he’s doing until he is doing it, but Ben has causally sauntered up behind her. He can see Rey’s eyes beginning to drift shut again as her fingers hover over the keyboard. He takes a quick glance at the paragraph she’s working on. 

_...-with modern technology advancing all around us, the classic carborator calibration is vastly over looked now a days as society converts to all things electric and computer based. Many fail to realize that common issues all start from the fundamental systematic-_

“You misspelled carburetor.”

No sooner than the sentence pasts Ben’s mouth, he is greeted with a rather sharp back handed slap to the face as Rey startles awake. 

“Jesus fucking Christ-”

“Ow!”

“Solo? What the hell?” Rey is sitting there, looking up at him in mild shock as she comes back to her post-drowsy senses. “Didn’t your parents ever teach you to not sneak up on people?”

He doesn’t answer her question but again repeats himself as he rubs his cheek. “You misspelled Carburetor...” 

Rey is confused at first before she realized what he means. She looks back at her computer and in the current paragraph she is working on, she has in fact misspelled the word. “You were reading my paper?!” He feels like he imagines it, but it almost looks like the tips of her ears are stained pink. 

Ben grabs the chair at the table next to hers and pulls it up. “You’re welcome.”

“I wasn’t thanking you!” She hisses, but her voice can hardly hold it’s anger as she looks over at him still rubbing his cheek. “You also deserved that.”

He leans over and sets his elbow to the table she’s at and takes a long look at her. He feels a smirk playing at his lips. “I really didn’t.” She’s cute when she’s agitated. He finds he can’t help but take in her features while she looks at her laptop. 

Ben let’s his eyes drift down to the papers she has scattered on the table. He picks one up and skims over the information talking about modern braking systems. 

Rey all but snatches the paper from his hands as she starts to collect them and stuff them into a folder. “No one told you to touch that.” 

Ben shrugs one shoulder as he watches her straighten out the space and close her laptop. She’s quiet as she does so and Ben finds himself stuck as to what to do next. He hasn’t really thought about what he was doing until he had done it and now he’s just being weird, sitting here looking at Rey. 

So he says the first stupid thing to come to his mind. “You’re working today?”

She looks at him with a raised eye brow and she dramatically gestures to her coveralls. His eyes follow the motion and linger momentarily before he catches himself to look back at her face. “I wouldn’t be wearing this if I wasn’t.” 

He nods as he leans back in the chair. “Of course.” 

He notices Rey drum her fingers against the table, awkwardly. She only glances at him before she turns her attention out the window. “I see you’re taking a break from yelling at unfortunate staff members who work below you.” 

The comment hurts and before he can say anything remotely close to apologizing, Rey’s wireless phone goes off. She’s quick to grab it and bring it to her ear. 

“Faculties. This is Rey.”

She’s silent as the person on the other side of the line seems to be explaining something to her in length; a minute passes as she nods in understanding. Soon, she’s stuffing her laptop in her bag and collecting her things. “My lunch was just about over anyway. Page Danny from Lock and Key and let him know to meet me on Ten South. Also, inform Stan from Offsite that I’d like to discuss Monday’s walk through with him as well.” She pauses before continuing. “Let them know we want to get the initial inspection done early and immediately have the second inspection lined up after the first. Thanks for the update, Snap.”

She hangs up and stands. If Ben didn’t know any better, he could still assume she was pretty upset with him. She stares at him briefly before stepping away from the table. She doesn’t bother to say anything. 

Ben just sits there staring at the carpet. 

\-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- —

She’s mildly miffed. She’s pretty sure she is blushing. She has no idea why she is feeling so suffocated after interacting with Ben. 

Rey closes her eyes as she takes the elevator down to the Base. Today had been going so well. She’d gotten up for her opening shift at the Cafe and had been pretty lucky to receive some decent tips from the Friday regulars. She’s lucky to not have classes today but that doesn’t mean she can neglect her assignments. Sure, the only downside to having two jobs is that it leaves very limited room for anything outside of work. 

She’d gotten in around 10, taken care of Snap’s lunch (more like brunch) coverage before choosing to take hers. She hadn’t taken any jobs with the intention of getting herself settled the rest of the day with all the jobs left over from the Morning shift. She’s going to be covering half the shift supervisor post for the evening until about 8. 

With the hospital swapping over for more energy efficient lighting, she’s got the pleasure of ensuring all lighting zones are completed on time. The main corridor needs to be taken care of before next week so she will be spending a good chunk of her evening doing those fixtures while hospital volumes are low. 

Right now, however, she needs to get her utility belt and head over to the administrative building. There seems to be some problems with the heating and cooling system in the lobby and it seems like a secretary is having issues with a sticking lock on a supply door. She will go and see if she can provide aid to the Hvac team member while clearing the Lock issue. 

She reaches the Base and settles to putting her things in her locker and securing her belt to her hips. Danny, her locksmith, comes in minutes later to grab a few things for himself. 

“Sup, Rey.” He shakes her hand as she puts her pen in her pocket.

“Dan. I’m assuming Snap has given you the work order request?” She sounds so authoritative. She slightly hates it and wonders briefly how Poe manages to be a supervisor. 

Dan gives a nod as he heads for the door with Rey. “It’s funny because I’ve received two work order requests for the same issue.” Rey cocks her head to the side confused. 

Dan continues. “One says it’s a sticking lock. The other says something stuck in the lock tumbler.”

Rey can only roll her eyes. “Someone broke their key in the lock?”

“That’s the only assumption I’ve got.” Dan half chuckles, allowing Rey to step on the elevator,  before he continues. “Though I’m expecting a full replacement will be needed. Administrative needs updating to their building just as much as the professional building, so I’ll likely be out of parts to make a quick fix.” 

Rey nods. “Expedite the parts if needed. The last thing we need is administrative breathing down our necks for a broken door.” 

The elevator doors open and when Rey steps out, she flags down Stan in the lobby who seems to heading in the direction of the elevators. They shake hands, Stan acknowledging both Rey and Danny before the three of them take off towards the South building. 

The topic of discussion is the new Intensive Care Unit; it will go through inspection on Monday morning. She’s between both men, one step ahead of them, her head held high. It’s funny how three facilities workers with heavy utility belts and large key rings can sound walking down the hall in unison. 

People clearly can hear them coming, few acknowledge them and some choose to ignore them. They’re half way down the hall way when Rey sees him. She sees him first and she feels a lump form in her throat the moment she knows for sure it is him. 

Benjamin Solo. Doctor Asshole is walking down the hall headed in the opposite direction, eyes glued to his phone and a frown on his mouth. He’s got coffee in his hand and a bag of chips between his fingers as he walks. 

Remember the funny thing about how people can hear a herd of facilities workers walking in a pack? Stan’s keys knock against the wall he is walking too close to and Rey sees the second Ben’s attention leaves his phone. 

She straightens more and when her boots greet the tile, she’s waking with a little more authority. 

Their eyes meet and Rey isn’t sure if she should rip her gaze away or just continue with this stare down. Ben seems to be just as conflicted but she does notice the way his eyes quickly flit down her body and lock back onto her eyes. Subconsciously, she glares at him; she sees his jaw work as he gulps and decides to turn his attention back to his phone. 

 _Asshole_.

It’s the only word she can think as they pass each other.

\-- --- -- --- -- --- -- --- -- —

The rest of Ben’s day flies by. After seeing his final patient, he’d given Tiffany permission to head home early. The look on the girl's face was comical; she’d thought he was joking. 

He’d spent the remainder of his time distracting himself, completing paperwork and submitting testing orders in the patient portal database. He also answered questions left for him in the portal

It’s roughly six by the time he chooses to log off his computer. 

Seeing Rey walk the hall earlier had done… weird things to Ben. A woman in a man’s world. She’d stood so tall as she spoke with her fellow colleagues. Like the first day he’d met her, the utility belt hung low on her waist and he could hardly keep his eyes from tracing the delicate curves of her body. 

Rey was still very much a mystery to Ben. He knew she worked in Facilities and she was well known through the hospital for her punctual work ethic. She also went to school. Braking systems and Carburetors… Was she seeking out a degree in automotive? 

His first mistake was looking behind him as they passed each other. The two men were discussing something and Rey had turned to the man on her right to say something and Ben - His eyes immediately traveled south and traced the curve of her ass. His mind had jumped back to the day prior when she had been bent over the broken sink. 

_He was so screwed._

Running his hands over his face and groaning, he gets up to stretch and remove his coat. He hangs it on the hook by the door and grabs his bag. Going over a quick mental checklist and securing the locks on the suite, he decides to head home.

When he reaches the lobby, he finds it to be pretty vacant. It’s a Friday evening so of course no one, except for a stray medical resident here and there, would be caught hanging out. He rounds the information desk and starts his journey to the physician’s lot. Fate wants to play a sick game with him.

About a quarter way down the hall, he see’s Rey. She’s got herself perched atop a ladder, easily eight feet tall, with a screwdriver between her teeth. She’s doing something with the light and when he looks up, he can notice that half the hallway before her is painted in a slightly more white hue. She’s changing lightbulbs.

He debates with himself, for really all of thirty seconds, before he’s standing at the base of her ladder. Her cart sits nearby with tools thrown all over it and a box of lightbulbs propped against it. She doesn’t notice him right away; the flap of the fixture is obstructing a lot of her view while she gets the bulb securely in place. 

Ben’s senses suddenly get very overwhelmed she makes a contempt little hum. He watches her flip the latch shut and secure everything back into place. She admires her work for a moment before grabbing the sides of the ladder so she can climb down. Her foot stalls as they make eye contact.

“What the hell are you still doing here this late on a Friday evening?” She questions him before he can even say hello.Ben shrugs. “I would ask you the same thing,” She gives him a pointed look. “although it’s pretty obvious.” He pauses. “I had some paperwork to catch up on.”

She scoffs at him as she makes her way down the ladder. “Big Bad Solo has no plans on a Friday night? Say it ain’t so.”

He crosses his arm over his chest. “Last I checked, I’m the one out the door, _leaving_. You’re here-”

“Changing a bunch of stupid lightbulbs.” She finishes for him. She folds her ladder, lifts it effortlessly and moves it all of seven feet before propping it back open. “I know. I won’t complain though. Evening differential pay is pretty nice to have.” She moves to get her cart and the box of bulbs.

Ben stands there awkwardly and watches her. Her small talk startles him a bit.

“So, any big plans this weekend?” She’s not looking at him as she fiddles with something on her cart. 

Ben shrugs. “If by ‘big plans’ you mean mundane adult responsibilities like laundry, grocery shopping and maybe spending quality time catching up on a book I’ve been reading? Sure. Big plans.”

“Your girl friend won’t feel neglected?” She’s picking at something on her finger. 

He has to stop himself from smiling at her curiosity. “She’ll be devastated.” Rey looks at him with a raised eyebrow. “You know, If she existed.” 

Her attention is back on her cart in an instant. He swallows the lump in his throat. “What about you, sunshine? Any plans?”

She snorts at the little nickname and he’s grateful she doesn’t take the Phillips head screwdriver in her hand and ram it into his skill. “I’m going to lounge around on my couch in my unmentionables and binge watch crap on Netflix with my boyfriend.” She’s smirking and then giving him a one shoulder shrug. “You know, if I had one.” She then goes on to answer him truthfully.

“I’ve got the pleasure of working on a mid-term paper and Sunday morning work. The biggest of plans, really.”

“Make sure you properly use spell check.” He smirks back and she just shakes her head.

Rey rolls her eyes as she goes to climb her ladder. “Have a good rest of your evening, Solo.”

“Likewise, _Sunshine_.” 

He forces himself to walk away. He very much enjoys her presence and witty sense of humor. She keeps him on his toes. She’s pretty; intellectually and physically. He had accepted the concept that she probably did have someone she was with, but her cleaning up his curiosity, something in his chest feels warm. 

His thoughts are lost thinking of Rey he doesn’t completely register the disruption behind him right away. 

“STOP.”

“25 TO BASE WE HAVE A-“

He looks over his shoulder and sees a whole scene erupt before him. It’s a flurry of motion as he sees two public safety officers bolting down the hallway while at the same time Ben is almost shoved into a wall by another officer rounding the corner he is near. He manages to catch view of a hospital gown, bare ass and a barefooted man running from the officers in pursuit. 

When his mind catches up with his present state of shock, everything feels like it slows down. There is a loud clatter as a ladder tumbles over and scattering of tools as a maintenance cart meets the same fate of spilling over; there are a few soft pops as light bulbs drop to the ground and shatter. 

There is more shouting. Barefoot man falling over something - someone - a navy coverall covered body. Ben has already dropped his bag and his legs are moving when he sees the first fist thrown and the lip of a collar pulled at aggressively and shoved back down into the linoleum floor.

“REY!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright. So i know it's taken me so long to get this update out. The only thing I can offer as an explanation: I've been so busy with other things and have hit a wall with writer/art block in general. Conventions and Craft Shows burned me out and then the holidays. BUT WE HERE. IT'S TIME. 2020 and hope to get control over my very busy schedule... aha... It doesn't help that I've started another Reylo Fic that will only get posted once I finish most of it. ahahaha.... ahhhh

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoy this new AU idea I’ve been cooking up. Those of you who do not know - I actually work in a hospital so a lot of the building visuals will be taken from my daily surroundings. Also - Bare in mind, I don’t work in the clinical field so... don’t think I’m giving you the facts. 
> 
> Looking for a Beta so let me know if you’re devoted and ready to help me out :3c (mainly for grammar and spelling. A boost of confidence helps too)
> 
> Come find me on social media!  
> Instagram @hoonbunn  
> Twitter @hoonbunn5678


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